The new round under negotiation
OpenAI is reportedly working on a new private capital raise of up to $30 billion, with a pre-money valuation of $1.25 trillion. The news, attributed to sources cited by CNBC and reported by TechCrunch, indicates that the round would be led by Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates. OpenAI did not comment on the account.
The operation would mark a shift compared with the option of moving directly toward a listing: the company would have chosen to strengthen itself further in the private market. According to the same sources, the terms are not final and could change in the coming weeks.
Valuations in flux and the role of the Emirates
The figure circulating today does not match the one reported a month earlier by Bloomberg, which spoke of $30 billion against a valuation of $1.4 trillion. The two accounts, though close in the size of the raise, show that the valuation is still the subject of negotiation.
CNBC also reports that the involvement of Emirati investors could be linked to an agreement to guarantee OpenAI greater computing capacity. This is an element reported by the source, not confirmed by the company, which shifts attention from financial capital alone to the infrastructure resources needed for the lab's activity.
The effect on records and the IPO
If the round were to close above $1 trillion, OpenAI would become the privately held company with the highest valuation ever recorded. The figure would also have consequences for the path toward listing: the company filed confidential documentation for an IPO in June, after a capital increase completed in March that valued it at $852 billion post-money.
The comparison with the sector is immediate: the specialist press reports that Anthropic would aim for a valuation between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion for its own public debut, after raising $65 billion in May at a valuation of $965 billion and having in turn filed confidential documentation in June. The two companies therefore appear to be measuring themselves against very high value expectations, in a context in which neither has yet completed its listing.
What remains to be verified
The available information comes from journalistic sources and not from official confirmations: OpenAI has not issued statements, the exact composition of investors and the link between the round and the provision of computing capacity are not confirmed, and the final valuation could differ from the figures that have circulated. The timing of the operation and its actual impact on the IPO calendar also remain to be clarified.
