Investing

OpenAI seeks $30B funding at $1.4T valuation as IPO plans slip: report

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI

OpenAI is seeking to raise at least $30 billion from investors in a new funding round at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion, as the ChatGPT maker delays plans for an initial public offering and steps up its competition with rival Anthropic, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.

The proposed valuation would be before the new capital is added and could put OpenAI above Anthropic’s latest private-market valuation.

Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI was considering a funding round at a valuation of about $1.2 trillion.

The discussions remain at an early stage and the terms could change, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is not public, the publication said.

Investor demand is driving the fundraising effort, one of the people said.

OpenAI declined to comment.

Funding round could replace near-term IPO

The latest fundraising is expected to serve as a bridge round, giving OpenAI additional capital as it puts off a potential stock-market debut.

Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman recently said OpenAI would not go public this year, arguing that the company should concentrate on addressing concerns surrounding AI safety.

Altman described the current environment as an “ill-advised moment” for an IPO.

The company last raised $122 billion in March at an $852 billion valuation, including the money raised.

A new $30 billion-plus investment would therefore represent a substantial increase in the valuation investors are being asked to assign to the company just months later.

OpenAI and Anthropic are increasingly competing for corporate customers and revenue as both prepare for potential public listings.

Both companies have confidentially filed paperwork for IPOs, with Anthropic potentially moving ahead with a listing as soon as this fall.

OpenAI revenue accelerates

The proposed funding comes as OpenAI seeks to demonstrate that its rapid spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure can translate into sustained commercial growth.

The company’s revenue run rate surpassed $40 billion during the summer, Bloomberg reported in August.

OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate is nearing $70 billion, up more than 70% since the start of the third quarter, as enterprise sales more than doubled since July, Axios reported on Tuesday.

OpenAI has also sought to sharpen its product strategy after facing a challenging period of competition in the AI market.

Coding-related products have emerged as an important source of renewed momentum, while the company continues to invest heavily in AI agents capable of performing more complex tasks for users.

At its developer event on Tuesday, OpenAI introduced an always-on AI agent called Dots, putting it in direct competition with products such as Meta Platforms’ Muse.

The company is also changing its subscription structure, introducing a $500-a-month premium tier offering higher usage limits and faster processing.

At the same time, it is reducing certain usage limits on its $200 plan.

Anthropic targets potentially larger IPO

Anthropic is meanwhile preparing for a potential IPO that could value the company at more than $2 trillion, according to information reported by Reuters.

Such a valuation would make the listing a significant test of how public markets value leading AI companies and could provide an important benchmark for OpenAI.

Anthropic’s IPO prospectus argues that artificial intelligence could reshape the global economy more profoundly than industrialization, electricity and the internet.

The scale of investment required to achieve that transformation is also enormous.

Anthropic reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025 and expects to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in the coming years, according to the prospectus.

Revenue nevertheless increased 12-fold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion.

The company recorded an operating loss of more than $8 billion, excluding write-downs of liabilities largely connected with previous fundraising, Reuters reported.

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