OpenAI Rushes To Close $30 Billion Funding Round Ahead Of Anthropic's IPO
· Free Press Journal
OpenAI is moving to lock in new investor commitments before rival Anthropic lists on the public market, in a round that could value the ChatGPT maker at more than $1.4 trillion.
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Round of about $30 billion
The company is seeking roughly $30 billion, one of the sources told Reuters. Existing backers, including Japan's SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, are in talks to participate. Anthropic is widely expected to make its market debut in mid-November, and the timeline for OpenAI's raise is faster than is usual for a deal of this size, the report said.
SoftBank and OpenAI declined to comment. Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests.
A race for the same investors
The sources said OpenAI is keen to move first because the two AI labs are courting a largely overlapping pool of investors. OpenAI met long-only funds and sovereign wealth funds last week, the same period in which Anthropic held its own investor day.
Some investors see the push as a bid to secure money from funds that might otherwise put more of their capital into Anthropic's offering, Reuters reported. With both companies chasing trillion-dollar valuations, investors face the task of weighing two complex deals within days or weeks of each other.
An OpenAI Agent Stole Funds From A Crypto Wallet It Did Not Own To Finish A TaskGrowth pitch and pricing
OpenAI is telling investors that growth picked up after it released its GPT-6 Astra model. According to one source, the company says it has reached $50 billion in annualized revenue and expects to hit $70 billion by the end of the year. It has also cut prices on its lower-cost models, which it says has lifted usage, and has indicated it could reduce prices further.
Avoiding a direct comparison
Timing also matters because Anthropic's IPO filings will open its books to scrutiny. One source told Reuters OpenAI wants to finish raising before those disclosures give investors a clearer view of Anthropic and invite side-by-side comparisons.
Such comparisons could lead investors to press OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar on its revenue growth and outlook. The two companies also account for revenue differently. OpenAI books revenue net, deducting partners' shares up front, and has accused Anthropic of overstating its numbers by counting the full value of contracts sold through third-party cloud providers.
OpenAI Accuses Ex-Employee Now At Apple Of Taking Files On Unreleased DeviceEdward Best, co-chair of capital markets at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who is not involved in the deal, said OpenAI may want to set its valuation without a peer benchmark, calling the contest a "two-horse race" to go public.
Anthropic's numbers and valuation debate
Reuters has previously reported that Anthropic's annualized revenue reached about $65 billion by July. The company told investors its quarterly revenue rose to $16.8 billion in the third quarter from $11.6 billion in the second. Slowing month-on-month growth, however, has raised questions about its valuation.
Some current and prospective Anthropic investors have argued for a debut valuation nearer $1.5 trillion rather than the $2 trillion the company wanted, after third-quarter results fell short of expectations, Reuters reported last week.
OpenAI's funding history and IPO plans
OpenAI was last valued at $852 billion in March, following a record $122 billion round that included a commitment from Amazon to invest up to $50 billion. Investors familiar with the company say it needs fresh capital to fund heavy infrastructure commitments and shore up its balance sheet if weaker IPO markets push back its planned 2027 listing.