OpenAI said to seek $30B-plus raise at about $1.4T valuation after shelving 2026 IPO

OpenAI is pursuing at least $30 billion in new private capital at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion excluding the fresh money, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg News and relayed by Reuters, TechCrunch, and other outlets on Sept. 29–30. The ChatGPT maker has not confirmed the talks, and secondary reports stress that discussions remain early and terms could change.

The reported package is framed as bridge financing after Chief Executive Sam Altman said earlier this month that OpenAI would not list in 2026, citing artificial-intelligence safety concerns. A public offering had been widely expected this year following a March financing that, according to the same Bloomberg-sourced accounts, raised $122 billion in committed capital and valued the company at $852 billion including that capital. Private-market valuations are not SEC-filed facts; they reflect negotiated deal terms reported by journalists citing unnamed sources and can shift before any closing.

Bloomberg previously reported that OpenAI had considered a smaller raise near a $1.2 trillion valuation. The higher ask now under discussion would, if completed at the stated level, put the company’s implied pre-money mark above rival Anthropic’s most recent private-market valuation cited in secondary coverage. Anthropic has separately been reported as preparing a possible November initial public offering with a valuation target above $2 trillion—again, prospectus and market-talk figures that should not be treated as completed transactions.

Revenue momentum is part of the narrative investors are weighing. Bloomberg-sourced accounts say OpenAI’s annualized revenue run rate climbed more than 70% since July and exceeded $40 billion over the summer; some Reuters roundups circulating Sept. 29 put the run rate nearer $70 billion. Those figures come from private-company reporting, not audited public filings, and outlets do not always reconcile the same ARR snapshot. Editors should treat run-rate claims as attributed secondary reporting pending any company confirmation.

Competitive pressure remains intense. Enterprise demand for coding and agent products has lifted both OpenAI and Anthropic in 2026, while large technology partners and cloud providers continue to finance the compute build-out that underpins model training. OpenAI’s Microsoft partnership remains a strategic backdrop for any private raise, though Microsoft is not named as the lead investor in the Bloomberg accounts summarized by wire and trade press.

Product news on the same calendar overlapped the funding story. CoinDesk’s Sept. 30 wrap, summarizing Bloomberg, also described OpenAI unveiling a “Dots” AI agent and related consumer tiers around its DevDay event in San Francisco. Those product details are separate from the financing talks and should not be read as evidence that a round has closed.

For capital-markets readers, the distinction between reported private-market negotiations and completed, disclosed financings is material. OpenAI is still privately held; there is no public equity ticker, and no Form S-1 has been filed for a 2026 listing under the Altman timeline. A bridge round, if it materializes, would extend the private runway while the company manages safety workstreams, compute costs, and competition for talent and enterprise contracts.

Investors tracking the AI complex through public proxies—Microsoft, Nvidia, and other suppliers—should not equate secondary reports of OpenAI’s ask with a marked-to-market public valuation. Private rounds can reprice quickly, and competing narratives about Anthropic’s IPO path add another layer of uncertainty to relative positioning in the sector.

What to watch next: confirmation or denial from OpenAI; named lead investors and final pre-/post-money math; any SEC registration activity from Anthropic; and whether ARR figures are restated in company materials. Until then, the $30 billion / $1.4 trillion package remains Bloomberg-sourced private-market reporting—not an official company filing.

Sources

• U.S. News / Reuters — OpenAI targets $30B funding at $1.4T valuation, Bloomberg reports
• TechCrunch — OpenAI reportedly in talks to raise $30B at $1.4T
• Bloomberg Law — OpenAI Targets $30 Billion in Funding at $1.4 Trillion Value
• CoinDesk — OpenAI targets $1.4T valuation and unveils Dots AI agent (Bloomberg summary)