OpenAI Seeks $30B at $1.4 Trillion, Delays IPO

OpenAI is targeting at least $30 billion in a new funding round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg News's reporting, citing people familiar with the matter, carried by Reuters via U.S. News.

This fundraise is designed specifically as bridge financing in place of a public listing. CEO Sam Altman said earlier this month that OpenAI would not go public in 2026, calling the timing "ill-advised" given the company's ongoing AI safety work, according to Yahoo Finance's reporting on the round. OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO with the SEC in June, but the public debut is now being pushed into 2027 at the earliest, according to Cointelegraph's reporting on the delay.

The scale of this jump is genuinely large. In March, OpenAI closed a round with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post-money valuation, anchored by SoftBank, Amazon, and Nvidia, which was the largest funding round in Silicon Valley history at the time. A $1.4 trillion pre-money figure represents roughly a 64% increase in six months, and would also surpass the roughly $1.2 trillion valuation Fortune reported OpenAI was discussing with investors just two weeks earlier, according to Blockhead's reporting.

OpenAI's annualized revenue run rate is nearing $70 billion, having risen more than 70% since the start of the third quarter, according to Reuters' own separate reporting cited in the same coverage. That is a genuinely steep growth curve, worth comparing directly against Anthropic's own disclosed figures: Anthropic's draft IPO prospectus, which we covered in our earlier reporting on the filing's warnings about rogue AI legal risk, showed the company lost nearly $42 billion in 2025 on revenue of $4.6 billion, though about $34 billion of that loss was a non-cash charge tied to convertible financing, with the actual operating loss just over $8 billion.

The timing of this report matters. It lands just days after Anthropic's leaked IPO prospectus set a bar of more than $2 trillion for a public AI listing, according to Blockhead's reporting. Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in a private round in May, and its planned public listing is expected after November's US midterm elections. A $1.4 trillion OpenAI valuation would put the company back ahead of Anthropic in private markets, even as Anthropic's public listing target still sits considerably higher.

It is worth being precise about how early-stage this process actually is. The fundraising discussions are at an early stage and terms could change, according to Bloomberg's reporting, with investor demand described as leading the round rather than OpenAI actively soliciting it. Treat the $1.4 trillion figure as a target under negotiation, not a confirmed close.

This funding push comes directly alongside the safety pressure we covered in our earlier reporting on OpenAI withholding its GPT-6.1 Astra model over safety concerns and unveiling its Dots agent the following day without addressing that decision publicly. A company simultaneously raising capital at a record valuation while its own researchers are withholding a model over safety concerns is a genuine tension worth watching as this round progresses.

For businesses evaluating OpenAI as a long-term technology partner, this fundraising target reflects genuine investor conviction in OpenAI's revenue trajectory, a $70 billion annualized run rate growing more than 70% in a single quarter is a real, disclosed figure worth weighing against the company's parallel safety disclosures.

For businesses tracking the broader AI valuation landscape, the emerging gap between OpenAI's private-market target and Anthropic's public-listing target is worth understanding as two different bets: OpenAI pursuing continued private capital to delay public scrutiny, and Anthropic moving toward a public listing that will require considerably more transparent, ongoing financial disclosure.

How much funding is OpenAI seeking, and at what valuation?
OpenAI is targeting at least $30 billion in a new funding round at a pre-money valuation of about $1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg News, a roughly 64% increase from its $852 billion valuation in March.

Why is OpenAI raising this round instead of going public?
CEO Sam Altman said earlier this month that going public in 2026 would be "ill-advised" given the company's ongoing AI safety work, pushing OpenAI's IPO into 2027 at the earliest despite having confidentially filed paperwork with the SEC in June.

How does OpenAI's valuation target compare to Anthropic's?
A $1.4 trillion valuation would put OpenAI ahead of Anthropic's most recent $965 billion private valuation, though Anthropic's draft IPO prospectus reportedly targets a public listing valuation above $2 trillion, expected after November's US midterm elections.

OpenAI is reportedly seeking at least $30 billion in new funding at a pre-money valuation of about $1.4 trillion, roughly 64% higher than its $852 billion valuation from March, serving as bridge financing while CEO Sam Altman delays the company's IPO into 2027 over AI safety concerns. The round is backed by an annualized revenue run rate nearing $70 billion, up more than 70% since the start of the third quarter, and lands just days after rival Anthropic's leaked IPO prospectus set a target of more than $2 trillion for its own public listing. The fundraising talks remain at an early stage with terms subject to change, and the round comes directly alongside OpenAI's decision to withhold its newest model over internal safety concerns.