OpenAI races to raise $30 billion at $1.4 trillion valuation ahead of Anthropic IPO

CTech

OpenAI is moving faster to raise about $30 billion in new funding before rival Anthropic is expected to enter the stock market in mid-November. The fundraising round could value the company behind ChatGPT at more than $1.4 trillion, Reuters reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The tight schedule shows that the two AI companies are competing more strongly for money from government investment funds and large financial institutions. SoftBank Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX and other investors that already support OpenAI are discussing taking part in the new round, Reuters reported. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment. Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The timing also shows that OpenAI wants to benefit from its faster revenue growth after launching its latest models. It also wants investors to commit money before Anthropic's expected IPO, or first sale of shares to the public, makes it easier to compare the two companies' financial results and growth prospects.

Last week, OpenAI met with investment funds that mainly hold stocks for the long term and with government investment funds. At the same time, Anthropic held its own event for investors. According to people cited by Reuters, OpenAI's fundraising round is expected to move faster than rounds of this size usually do.

Both companies are seeking values of more than $1 trillion, even as investors become more careful about technology stocks, rising interest rates and the cost of paying for the computer systems needed to build and run increasingly powerful AI models.

OpenAI was valued at $852 billion in March, after raising a record $122 billion. That funding round included a promise from Amazon to invest up to $50 billion. The new fundraising effort could give OpenAI a much higher value, but the final amount it will raise and its final valuation have not been confirmed.

OpenAI is telling investors that its yearly revenue, calculated using its current rate of earnings, is $50 billion. The company expects that figure to reach $70 billion by the end of the year, according to one person familiar with the matter. The company says the recent growth is partly due to the launch of its GPT-6 Astra model.

OpenAI has also lowered prices for some of its less expensive models and says this has led people to use them more. The company has told investors that it sees more ways to reduce the cost of AI models.

Anthropic, meanwhile, reported revenue of $16.8 billion in the third quarter, up from $11.6 billion in the second quarter and $4.7 billion in the first quarter. By July, its yearly revenue rate had reached about $65 billion.

Despite its growth, Anthropic's revenue has been increasing more slowly from month to month. This has led investors to question how much the company could be worth when it sells shares to the public. Some current and potential investors say a value closer to $1.5 trillion would make more sense than the $2 trillion valuation Anthropic has sought.

According to one person familiar with the matter, OpenAI wants to finish raising money before Anthropic releases financial information that gives investors a clearer view of its business. Those disclosures could lead investors to ask OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar for more details about revenue growth, financial results and the company's future plans.

The two companies also calculate revenue differently. OpenAI reports revenue after subtracting the share paid to its partners. It has accused Anthropic of making its revenue look larger by counting the full value of contracts sold through outside cloud computing providers. Anthropic says it follows accepted accounting rules.

Beyond competing for investors, OpenAI needs money to pay for major infrastructure commitments and strengthen its financial position. This would help protect the company if worsening conditions in public markets delay its planned IPO in 2027.

The fundraising effort comes as more people examine the financial commitments behind the AI boom. Building and running the most advanced AI models requires huge amounts of computing power. The data centers needed to provide that power are increasingly being paid for with borrowed money.

Recent market swings have raised questions about whether investors will keep supporting AI companies and infrastructure providers at the high values they are seeking. CoreWeave, a cloud computing company that has grown quickly to serve AI customers, saw pressure on its shares and debt last week. Investors were examining the nearly $50 billion it had borrowed to fund its growth.

The uncertainty has also affected the market for new stock listings. Several companies preparing to go public, including Blackstone-backed AirTrunk REIT, Nvidia-backed Firmus and SoftBank-backed SB Energy, have canceled or paused their offerings. Holtec, a company that provides nuclear energy services, withdrew its plans to list in the United States last month.

Companies in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a widely followed measure of the semiconductor industry that also gives investors an idea of demand for AI chips, have lost $1.6 trillion in market value in less than two weeks.

Reuters contributed to this report.