OpenAI seeks $30B funding round at $1.25T valuation ahead of potential IPO
Investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and investment firm Coatue are reportedly leading the funding round as OpenAI prepares for a possible stock market listing in 2027.
OpenAI is close to raising up to $30 billion in a new funding round that values the company at $1.25 trillion, according to CNBC. The artificial intelligence company is preparing for a possible initial public offering (IPO), which would allow people to buy its shares on the stock market.
Investors from the United Arab Emirates and investment firm Coatue are reportedly leading the funding round, according to people who know about the talks. The $1.25 trillion valuation does not include the new money being raised. If the round is completed, OpenAI could be valued at as much as $1.28 trillion, including the new funds.
The company plans to use this funding round as a step toward a possible IPO. OpenAI told investors on Thursday that it aims to get signatures on the investment agreements by the end of next week. However, the final amount of money raised has not yet been decided.
The talks began in September, after investors approached OpenAI with offers to provide more funding.
Along with the investment, OpenAI is reportedly discussing a business deal with the UAE to obtain more computing power. The company previously told investors that it expects to spend about $600 billion on computing infrastructure by 2030.
OpenAI aims to go public in 2027
The funding talks come after OpenAI privately filed paperwork for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June. This filing is an early step toward selling shares to the public.
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar told employees in August that OpenAI expects to go public in 2027. However, CEO Sam Altman urged caution the following month. He said that current market conditions made an immediate stock market listing a poor choice.
The possible IPO comes as OpenAI faces growing competition from Anthropic, another AI company that is also preparing to enter the stock market.
Anthropic privately filed its IPO paperwork in June and has since met with potential investors. The company is reportedly seeking a valuation of between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion, according to Reuters.
In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion. This shows how much money investors are putting into leading AI companies.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic are working toward stock market listings while planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on computing infrastructure. Growing demand for advanced AI systems is driving investment in data centers and cloud computing capacity.