OpenAI Seeks to Accelerate Fundraising Ahead of Anthropic IPO, Sources Say

3-line summary

• OpenAI is seeking to raise about $30 billion in a round that could value the company above $1.4 trillion, with existing investors SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based MGX among those discussing participation; OpenAI has met long-term investment funds and sovereign wealth funds in recent weeks, and the round is expected to move faster than typical, as OpenAI reportedly needs the funds to meet infrastructure-investment commitments and strengthen its balance sheet.
• The move aims to lock in investment commitments before Anthropic's IPO, expected around mid-November; some investors view it as an attempt to pre-empt capital that might otherwise flow to Anthropic's offering, since the two companies compete for a similar investor base, and OpenAI is reportedly trying to close its round before Anthropic's financial disclosures are published to avoid direct comparisons.
• OpenAI was valued at $852 billion in a $122 billion round in March (including up to $50 billion pledged by Amazon); its annualized revenue is about $50 billion and expected to reach $70 billion by year-end, accelerating after the GPT-6 Astra launch. Anthropic's annualized revenue was reported around $65 billion as of July, with Q3 revenue growing sharply from Q2 though monthly growth deceleration has raised some investor concern; OpenAI has criticized Anthropic's revenue accounting for contracts resold via third-party cloud providers, which Anthropic says follows standard practice. Some Anthropic investors are pushing for a roughly $1.5 trillion valuation rather than the previously discussed $2 trillion following softer Q3 results.

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