OpenAI prepares for new funding round amid delayed IPO

OpenAI is holding preliminary talks with major investors about a new private funding round that could value the ChatGPT developer at about $1.2 trillion. The company is considering raising additional capital before going public, which is now expected no earlier than 2027.

This was reported by the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the negotiations.

The discussions are at an early stage, so both the valuation of OpenAI and the decision to hold the round could change. According to the FT, the initiative this time came from investors, not from the company itself.

If the deal is completed under current terms, OpenAI's valuation would increase significantly compared to the March round. Then the company raised $122 billion in confirmed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. OpenAI officially called that round a resource for further scaling computing power, developing models and products.

Participants in the March financing included Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank and Microsoft, and the round was the largest in OpenAI's history.

OpenAI's IPO postponed

The new talks are taking place simultaneously with a change in plans regarding the company's stock market debut. OpenAI has already confidentially filed documents for an IPO, but CEO Sam Altman last week ruled out a share listing in 2026.

He said that given discussions about the safety of rapidly advancing AI systems, it would be an bad moment for an IPO right now. According to him, the company does not feel the need to rush toward the public market.

This makes another private round a more realistic financing option for OpenAI. At the same time, holding such a round could further delay the moment when the company's early investors gain the opportunity to sell their stakes through the stock exchange.

OpenAI continues to grow revenues — and expenses — rapidly

According to the Financial Times, investor interest strengthened after the launch of new OpenAI models. The company's annualized revenue pace exceeded $40 billion last month.

At the same time, developing advanced AI models remains extremely capital-intensive. OpenAI spends tens of billions of dollars on model training, data centers and computing infrastructure, so access to large amounts of funding remains one of the key factors in the AI market competition.

OpenAI itself has not commented on the new funding round talks.

Sources:
Financial Times, OpenAI, TechCrunch