OpenAI is racing to raise $30 billion before Anthropic's expected IPO

OpenAI is moving quickly to find investors for a funding round of about $30 billion before rival Anthropic is expected to go public in mid-November, according to Reuters. The deal could value OpenAI at more than $1.4 trillion, Reuters reported.

SoftBank Group, MGX, which is based in Abu Dhabi, and other investors who already own shares in OpenAI are discussing whether to invest in the new round, according to Reuters. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment to Reuters.

OpenAI met with government-owned investment funds and funds that mainly invest in stocks last week. Anthropic also held an event for investors, according to Reuters. Both companies are seeking money from many of the same investors. Some investors believe OpenAI is trying to secure money from funds that might otherwise invest more in Anthropic's planned stock market debut, Reuters reported.

OpenAI is telling investors that its yearly revenue rate reached $50 billion after it launched its GPT-6 Astra model. The company expects that figure to reach $70 billion by the end of the year, according to Reuters. OpenAI has also cut prices for its cheaper models. The company says the lower prices have led people to use them more often, Reuters reported.

Anthropic's yearly revenue rate was about $65 billion in July, according to Reuters. The company told investors that its revenue for the third quarter reached $16.8 billion, up from $11.6 billion in the second quarter. After these results fell short of expectations, some current and possible future investors in Anthropic argued that the company should be valued at about $1.5 trillion when it goes public, rather than the $2 trillion it is seeking, Reuters reported.

The two companies calculate their revenue in different ways. OpenAI counts revenue after taking away the shares paid to its partners. It has accused Anthropic of making its revenue look bigger by counting the full value of contracts sold through outside cloud service providers, according to Reuters. Anthropic told Reuters that its accounting follows widely accepted methods.

OpenAI wants to finish raising the money before Anthropic shares financial information that would let investors compare the two companies directly, according to Reuters. That information could also lead investors to ask OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, for more details about how quickly revenue is growing and what the company expects in the future, Reuters reported.

“OpenAI could want to set its own valuation and not have to worry about a comp (comparison),” Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, told Reuters. Best is not involved in the deal and was speaking about what might happen, not stating what OpenAI plans to do. “It’s really a two-horse race in terms of being public,” he said, according to The Next Web.

Earlier this month, OpenAI told investors it expects its yearly revenue rate to reach at least $70 billion by the end of 2026, up from about $50 billion at the end of September. At that time, the company had not yet finalized the terms of the new funding round. It had discussed valuing the company at $1.4 trillion before adding the new investment. OpenAI's most recent funding round raised $122 billion and closed in March, valuing the company at $852 billion.

OpenAI privately filed the documents needed for a stock market listing in June and is aiming to go public in 2027. Its CEO, Sam Altman, has ruled out going public in 2026. The new funding would help OpenAI pay for its infrastructure commitments and strengthen its finances if a weaker stock market makes it necessary to delay its listing, according to Reuters.