OpenAI is in talks to raise at least $30 billion in a pre-IPO funding round at a pre-money valuation of roughly $1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg1,2,3. The round is structured as bridge financing to provide capital in place of an IPO rather than a final private raise before going public4. Talks are at an early stage and terms could change, with demand for the round being led by investors, according to Reuters's summary of the Bloomberg report.
The fundraising discussions come after OpenAI raised $122 billion in March at an $852 billion post-money valuation, a round that was described at the time as its last private raise before a public offering. Amazon, Nvidia Corp., and SoftBank anchored that March round, with Microsoft continuing to participate. OpenAI also completed a $7 billion employee tender offer in August at an unchanged $852 billion valuation.
IPO deferred on safety grounds
CEO Sam Altman confirmed on September 12 that OpenAI will not go public in 20266. "Given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public," Altman told Fortune. In a separate Fortune interview, Altman said: "I think it is unacceptable to be taking like a 10% chance of killing everybody by the end of the decade," responding to warnings from safety researchers about existential risk. OpenAI's CFO, Sarah Frier, said the company would pace the frontier and slow down if its researchers called for it, while noting she would make business decisions around that constraint5.
Revenue acceleration
Investor appetite for the new round is reportedly driven by a sharp uptick in OpenAI's financials. A strategic refocus on areas including coding fueled a 70% jump in run-rate revenue since July, reaching $40 billion in August, according to Bloomberg's reporting. That growth followed a period earlier in the year when Anthropic had momentarily outpaced OpenAI. OpenAI has since confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, and Anthropic confidentially filed for its own IPO on June 1.
A $1.4 trillion pre-money valuation would represent a substantial increase over the $852 billion post-money figure set in March. On September 16, Financial Times reported that investors had approached OpenAI about a round that could value the company above $1.2 trillion. The $1.4 trillion figure reported by Bloomberg on September 29 is about 17% higher than that earlier indication. Bloomberg said the valuation could put OpenAI back above Anthropic's latest private valuation; Anthropic raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation in May.
ANALYSIS Both of the two largest independent AI labs are now pursuing valuations in the trillions while each cites safety obligations as a factor in the pace of their public-market entries.
OpenAI did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment.