OpenAI repotedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuation

OpenAI is reportedly engaged in discussions to secure a massive $30 billion pre-IPO funding round, valued at approximately $1.4 trillion, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday. Investors are keen to inject additional capital into the company ahead of its anticipated public market launch next year. Despite Anthropic briefly surpassing OpenAI in early 2024, the company has experienced a 70% surge in run-rate revenue since July, reaching $40 billion by August, as per the report.

OpenAI had previously raised $122 billion in March at a $852 billion valuation, which was intended to be its final private investment before an IPO slated for 2026. However, CEO Sam Altman has now ruled out a public debut for the year, prioritizing AI safety over market entry. "I think it is unacceptable to be taking like a 10% chance of killing everybody by the end of the decade," he recently stated to Fortune concerning warnings from safety researchers about AI posing an existential threat to humanity.

If the new fundraising proceeds as reported, it will act as a bridging round until the IPO. OpenAI declined to provide comment on the matter to TechCrunch.