Sam Altman's OpenAI eyes $30B fundraising round ahead of looming IPO: report
OpenAI, the company led by Sam Altman, is reportedly close to finishing a new round of fundraising. The deal would put the company's value well above $1 trillion as it considers when to sell shares to the public for the first time.
OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT, is trying to raise as much as $30 billion. The deal would value the company at $1.25 trillion, CNBC reported, based on information from people who know about the plans.
The $1.25 trillion value does not include the new money OpenAI would receive from this fundraising round.
The investors taking part in this fundraising round include technology investment company Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates whose names were not given, according to the report.
The new money is reportedly being seen as a useful way to get extra funding before a possible initial public offering, or IPO. An IPO is when a company sells its shares to the public for the first time. OpenAI had originally planned to do this sometime this year, but the plan has been delayed.
OpenAI has not yet decided exactly how much money it will raise. However, the company reportedly told investors that it wants them to sign the necessary agreements by the end of this week.
In August, OpenAI privately submitted documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as part of its plan to become a publicly traded company. But company leaders have been careful not to say exactly when the IPO will happen.
Last month, Altman told Fortune that it was “an ill-advised moment to go public,” meaning he did not think it was a good time for the company to start selling shares to the public. Meanwhile, OpenAI's chief financial officer, Sarah Frier, has suggested that the IPO will happen sometime in 2027.
OpenAI is discussing when to go public at a time when major artificial intelligence companies are facing growing pressure and uncertainty.
Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and other technology leaders have called for AI development to slow down across the industry. At the same time, they are working to raise more money from investors.
Anthropic is reportedly planning to go public around the middle of November. The company, which makes the Claude AI model, is expected to be valued at somewhere between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion.
On Thursday, The Post's Charles Gasparino reported that Wall Street investors were urging both Anthropic and OpenAI to go public quickly. The investors are worried that if Democrats win the upcoming midterm elections, the government could introduce tougher rules and restrictions for the AI industry.
Elon Musk's SpaceX, which includes his artificial intelligence company xAI, held an IPO in June that broke previous records.
This week, Musk also suggested that SpaceX might join together with Tesla, his electric car company. If the two companies combined, the new business would be worth about $3.5 trillion.
The New York Post has contacted OpenAI to ask for a comment.