“We’re in this massive paradigm shift,” says Vince Hankes, the venture capitalist leading Thrive Capital’s investment in OpenAI. “And when that happens, historically, there have been new companies created that are worth a lot of money.”

Thrive Capital wasn’t an early investor in the generative AI standout—it didn’t buy in until 2023—but it’s made some of the biggest bets on the startup. It reportedly led a private share deal in early 2024 that enabled OpenAI employees to sell shares at an $86 billion valuation, then led a funding round in October that valued the startup at $157 billion. 

Hankes and Thrive’s founder Josh Kushner (brother of President-elect Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner)........

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