> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.implicator.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # OpenAI Nears $30 Billion Round at $1.25 Trillion After Pitching $1.4 Trillion - URL: https://www.implicator.ai/openai-30-billion-round-1-25-trillion/ - Published: 2026-10-23T04:34:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T04:34:40.000Z - Description: OpenAI wants signatures by the end of next week on a round of up to $30 billion led by UAE investors and Coatue. The price sits below the $1.4 trillion it presented to backers earlier this month, and the timing puts the round weeks ahead of Anthropic's expected IPO. - Author: Marcus Schuler - Tags: AI News On Thursday, Oct. 22, OpenAI [told investors it wants signatures by the end of next week](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/22/openai-funding-round-uae-investors.html?ref=implicator.ai). The ChatGPT maker is raising up to $30 billion, with investors from the United Arab Emirates and the investment firm Coatue leading. The round is being positioned as an "opportunistic" bridge, money to carry the company until a public offering. OpenAI filed its IPO prospectus confidentially in June and has not said when it will list. The round would value OpenAI at $1.25 trillion, below the roughly $1.4 trillion the company had discussed with backers earlier in October. The round would set a private price for OpenAI weeks before its chief rival, Anthropic, is expected to list. It also arrives two weeks after OpenAI's own [net revenue figure of roughly $50 billion](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/open-ai-revenue-nvidia-oracle-coreweave.html?ref=implicator.ai) came in well below the $68 billion gross figure that had been widely reported. The Breakdown - OpenAI is raising up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, led by UAE investors and Coatue, and wants signatures by the end of next week. - The price is $150 billion below the $1.4 trillion OpenAI presented to backers including BlackRock and MGX earlier in October. - On Oct. 8 it emerged that OpenAI's net annualized revenue was roughly $50 billion, below a widely reported $68 billion figure that included partners' gross revenue. - Anthropic is expected to list in mid-November, seeking $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, while both companies court the same sovereign and long-only funds. AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. [More on our AI guidelines](https://www.implicator.ai/about/). ## The price The gap between the two numbers is $150 billion. Both are pre-money valuations, which is the price set on the company before the new cash goes in. If the full $30 billion comes in, the post-money valuation would be $1.28 trillion. In September, investors approached OpenAI with proposals and [floated $1.2 trillion](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/16/open-ai-investors-new-funding-round.html?ref=implicator.ai), and some pitched the round as a way for employees to sell stock. In late September, talks at about $30 billion and $1.4 trillion were first reported, and earlier in October OpenAI presented $1.4 trillion pre-money to prospective backers that included BlackRock and MGX. Now the figure is $1.25 trillion. By Oct. 19, existing backers SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's MGX were in talks to join, and people familiar with the talks said the round was "expected to move faster than is typical for an offering of its size," with the aim of closing before Anthropic's expected mid-November listing. In March, OpenAI raised $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation, with investors including Amazon, SoftBank and Nvidia, and Amazon committing up to $50 billion. In August, the company ran a secondary share sale of roughly $7 billion that let employees cash out part of their holdings. A $1.28 trillion post-money valuation would be about $430 billion above March's $852 billion post-money mark. Alongside the equity, OpenAI is negotiating a commercial deal that would secure more computing capacity from the UAE, one person said. In February, OpenAI told investors it was targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030\. Nvidia has said OpenAI's existing and planned commitments represent approximately 12 gigawatts of its compute. The round is unsigned. Its final size is still being determined, and the terms come from people familiar with the talks rather than from OpenAI, which declined to comment. The revenue figures are the company's own and unaudited. ## The revenue figure OpenAI told investors it generated $6.7 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2026, up 18% from the first, and its annualized run rate topped $40 billion by August. FREE AI BRIEFING · WEEKDAYS Follow the money behind the AI labs. Get the AI stories shaping the day, with concise context from San Francisco. The briefing takes about five minutes and arrives at 4:45 a.m. Pacific, 7:45 a.m. Eastern. Email address Keep me informed Check your inbox for the confirmation link. Free. No hype. Unsubscribe anytime. On Oct. 8, it emerged that OpenAI had told investors its annualized revenue was roughly $50 billion at the end of September. A figure of $68 billion had been widely reported in late September. The two numbers count different things. OpenAI books sales after subtracting the share kept by partners, which is net revenue. The $68 billion figure included gross revenue from those partners, a person familiar with the matter said, and it was meant to allow a direct comparison with Anthropic, whose figures count the gross. The two companies also disagree over how revenue is counted. OpenAI has accused Anthropic of inflating revenue by counting the full value of contracts sold through cloud providers. Anthropic says it follows established accounting practices. OpenAI's investor presentation also cited 77% total run-rate growth in the third quarter and 107% run-rate growth for its enterprise business. One person said OpenAI expects $70 billion in annualized revenue by year end. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.25% on Oct. 8, its worst day since mid-August. Nvidia fell about 3%, Oracle nearly 6% and CoreWeave nearly 8%. The declines accelerated after the figure was reported midday. [Ross Mayfield](https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/08/investing/openai-nasdaq-stocks?ref=implicator.ai) is an investment strategist at Baird. "There are going to be tremors throughout all of the related sub-industries," he said. Tech and AI stocks had carried the market in recent weeks while other sectors struggled under rising bond yields. "This has become a much narrower market that's dependent on the AI names to keep it afloat," Mayfield said. ## Anthropic's listing Anthropic confidentially filed its prospectus in June. In May it closed a $65 billion round at a $965 billion valuation, which put it above OpenAI's $852 billion mark from March. It is now reportedly seeking a valuation between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in its offering. Its annualized revenue run rate hit $65 billion at the end of July, the company told investors in August. Anthropic told investors its third-quarter revenue rose to $16.8 billion from $11.6 billion in the second quarter. After those results fell short of expectations, some investors argued for a debut valuation near $1.5 trillion rather than the $2 trillion Anthropic wants. New Constructs, an independent research firm, called the offering the "most ridiculous IPO of 2026" and valued Anthropic at $150 billion. Know someone who'd find this useful? [✉️ Email it to a friend in one click](mailto:?subject=A%20newsletter%20I%20think%20you%27d%20like&body=This%20is%20one%20of%20maybe%20three%20newsletters%20I%20actually%20read.%20The%20rest%20just%20pile%20up%2C%20unread%2C%20judging%20me.%0A%0AAnd%20yes%2C%20this%20email%20mostly%20wrote%20itself%2C%20which%20is%20a%20little%20on%20the%20nose%20for%20an%20AI%20newsletter.%20Doesn%27t%20make%20it%20wrong.%20implicator.ai%20is%20good.%0A%0ASubscribe%20free%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.implicator.ai%2Fsubscribe%2F%3Futm%5Fsource%3Dnewsletter%26utm%5Fmedium%3Dforward%26utm%5Fcampaign%3Demail%5Fforward), or they can [subscribe free here](https://www.implicator.ai/subscribe/?utm%5Fsource=newsletter&utm%5Fmedium=forward&utm%5Fcampaign=forward%5Fto%5Fcolleague). Both companies are calling on the same buyers. Only a short list of sovereign wealth funds and long-only funds can write checks this large. OpenAI met such funds the week before Oct. 19, while Anthropic held its own investor day. [Edward Best](https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-30bn-round-before-anthropic-ipo?ref=implicator.ai) is a capital markets lawyer at Willkie Farr & Gallagher who is not involved in either deal. "It's really a two-horse race in terms of being public," he said. ## The 2027 plan Two OpenAI executives have spoken to the timetable. Sarah Friar, the chief financial officer, [addressed employees at an all-hands meeting](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/19/open-ai-ipo-timing-2027-friar.html?ref=implicator.ai) on Wednesday, Aug. 19, with slides on screen showing the revenue run rate up 35% quarter to date and the enterprise run rate up 50%. She said OpenAI "will be a public company in 2027," or sooner if "our business continues to inflect." She framed the offering as a step rather than an end. "The IPO is not a finish line, it is a milestone, another fundraise," Friar said. She also raised the possibility that Anthropic would list first. "There is a chance they pull the cover off that confidential file in the coming weeks and become public in September. That's OK, we are running our own race," she said. Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, addressed the question in an interview published Sept. 12, about three and a half weeks later. Citing concerns about AI safety, he said "right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public." The interview pushed any listing to at least 2027. The same day, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei published an essay urging AI companies to pace how quickly they improve their most advanced models. Altman and Elon Musk both backed the proposal in social media posts. The essay followed an Anthropic researcher's resignation earlier that week. He said he left out of concern that Anthropic and OpenAI are "gambling with our lives." On Sept. 15, three days after Altman's interview, Friar said in a televised interview with CNBC's Jim Cramer, "We still have an incredible balance sheet." The next date is OpenAI's target for securing signatures, the end of next week. Anthropic's expected listing follows in mid-November. Frequently Asked Questions How much is OpenAI raising, and at what valuation? Up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, meaning the price before the new cash goes in. If the full $30 billion comes in, the post-money valuation would be $1.28 trillion. The final size is still being determined. Who is leading the round? Investors from the United Arab Emirates and the investment firm Coatue. OpenAI is also negotiating a separate commercial deal that would secure more computing capacity from the UAE. How does $1.25 trillion compare with earlier talks? It is $150 billion below the $1.4 trillion OpenAI presented to prospective backers earlier in October. In March, OpenAI raised $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation. Why did OpenAI's revenue figure drop from $68 billion to $50 billion? The two figures count different things. OpenAI books net revenue after partners' share; the widely reported $68 billion figure included gross revenue from partners to allow a comparison with Anthropic. The figures are the company's own and unaudited. When will OpenAI go public? OpenAI confidentially filed its IPO prospectus in June but has not said when it will list. CFO Sarah Friar told employees in August it will be a public company in 2027, and Sam Altman said in September that now would be an ill-advised moment to go public. AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. [More on our AI guidelines](https://www.implicator.ai/about/). 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