OpenAI employees would be allowed to cash out their company’s share worth $1.5 billion regarding the investment agreement with SoftBank.

SoftBank, a Japanese-based multinational investment company, is financing the world’s prominent artificial intelligence (AI) enterprise OpenAI with $1.5 billion. This agreement would allow the employee to gain a profit by selling their shareholding.

Through these corporate actions, SoftBank would have a bigger stake in the company, which is something that the CEO Masayoshi Son asked for quite a long time.

OpenAI’s employees who hold the share would have spare time before the end of the year, on Dec. 24. If the employees agree, they would benefit from around $210 per share, aligned with the most recent funding.

Current and previous employees could participate in the funding, but only those who had been granted restrictions and held the share for at least two years.

OpenAI, which has been considered a non-profit organization for a decade, is denied the issue that this funding is related to the newest company’s orientations, which will move to the profit-making enterprise.

SoftBank funding for emerging technologies

According to CNBC on Nov. 27, $1.5 billion in funding for OpenAI comes from SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2.

This funding was specifically used to invest in emerging technology and companies, including Nvidia, Uber, Exscientia, Glean, Perplexity, and Poolside. Through this investment, the company based in Tokyo will expand its horizon on investing in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 (SVF2) was initiated in 2019 and collected an investment commitment of up to $56 billion. In 2021, funding was invested in more than 250 companies, and the majority of the funding is a new investment.

Now, the funding is focused on accelerating the use of artificial intelligence, market leaders, and companies with a value over $1 billion or who have named a unicorn.

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of Binance, has announced its investment in BIO Protocol, a platform designed to help early-stage scientific research startups access decentralized funding opportunities.

The investment sees Binance, powered by the native token BNB (BNB), make its first foray into decentralized science, the platform said in an announcement on Nov. 8.

According to Binance Labs, BIO Protocol is the equivalent of the “Y Combinator of on-chain science”, a reference to the U.S.-based VC firm and startup accelerator.

BIO Protocol advances the DeSci sector by providing a platform for scientists and investors to access collective funding and co-ownership opportunities.

The platform currently operates through a network of seven biotech decentralized autonomous organizations, (also known as BioDAOs) covering areas such as women’s health, mental health, and cryopreservation.

“BIO Protocol represents a significant step forward in DeSci by merging biotechnology and DeFi,” Andy Chang, investment director at Binance Labs, said. “At Binance Labs, we are dedicated to unlocking groundbreaking advancements that drive long-term, real-world impact by supporting projects building meaningful technology – an approach that closely aligns with our investment in BIO”.

The BIO Protocol team plans to use the funding to expand its BioDAOs further, with seed funding available for new entities. BIO will also offer community and tokenomics support as it seeks to broaden its presence and impact in scientific funding.

Binance Labs has recently increased its footprint in the VC ecosystem, backing multiple projects in various industry fields. This includes the investment platform’s backing of Lombard, a Bitcoin (BTC) liquid staking platform.

The crypto and blockchain-focused venture capital provider has also invested in Solana (SOL) staking protocol Solayer and Telegram mini-app Blum.

This week, crypto exchange Kraken stole the show with its $42.5 million grant raise from Optimism.

Kraken has disclosed its latest decision to launch Ink, a layer-2 on the Optimism (OP) blockchain. As a part of the deal, Optimism has announced that they will offer $42.5 million, or 25 million OP tokens.

This has brought the exchange’s funds raised to date to $164.8 million. Crypto.news dug deeper into the firms that raised the most capital from Oct. 27 to Nov 2.

Here are the firms that bagged million-dollar amounts during this period, according to data from Crypto Fundraising.

Glow Labs, $30 million

• Glow Labs is a community-powered platform that aims at ramping up global solar energy adoption.
• The firm raised $30 million from Framework and Union Square Ventures.