OpenAI raises $15B at a $1.25T valuation, half its original target, as it bridges to a 2027 IPO
What's the deal? OpenAI has raised $15 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, CNBC's David Faber reported on Thursday, citing sources. People familiar with the matter described it as an opportunistic raise to bridge the company to an initial public offering expected in 2027. The round has not formally closed and is expected to wrap up within the next couple of weeks.
Smaller than pitched: OpenAI first went to investors seeking as much as $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation, so the final raise is half the original target and below the price it had pitched. It is still about 47% above the $852 billion valuation of OpenAI's March round, when it raised $122 billion.
Why keep raising? Revenue is growing fast: OpenAI took in about $10 billion in the third quarter, nearly 50% more than the previous quarter, according to CNBC. Spending on compute and data centres is growing faster, with operating losses of about $10.9 billion in the quarter, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. According to Faber, OpenAI has so far taken about $30 billion from Nvidia and about $65 billion from SoftBankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The signal: The round lands a week before rival Anthropic is set to list on Nasdaq on 19 November, with a price range of $70 to $78 a share and a target valuation of up to about $1.4 trillion. For now the private and public marks of the two leading AI labs sit in the same range, and investors will soon be able to compare them on public-market disclosures.
Sources: CNBC, Faber Report, 12 November
CNBC, 12 November
Benzinga, 12 November
Quartz, 12 November
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