OpenAI reportedly raises $11B in new funding at $1.25T valuation

OpenAI Group PBC has reportedly raised $11 billion as part of a funding round that could nearly double in size over the coming weeks, as sources told Bloomberg that investors wired the funds to the company today.

The tipsters didn’t name the backers. The list of possible participants includes Microsoft Corp., which contributed to at least four of OpenAI’s previous rounds. That included its most recent $122 billion raise in March, which also drew the participation of Nvidia Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and about two dozen others.

It’s believed that OpenAI could raise up to $9 billion in additional funding as part of the round. The deal is expected to value the company at $1.25 billion. That potentially puts it on track to surpass Anthropic PBC’s market capitalization.

Anthropic hopes to achieve a valuation of $1.5 trillion in its upcoming initial public offering. However, several of its investors reportedly don’t consider that to be a realistic goal. According to the Wall Street Journal, one shareholder reportedly suggested that the company pursue a valuation closer to $1 trillion.

Anthropic’s IPO filing revealed that its quarterly revenue jumped 1,127% on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter. Last month, the Financial Times reported that OpenAI closed the quarter with $50 billion in net annualized revenue, which represented a 77% year-over-year increase. The company’s growth was driven by its enterprise business, which saw sales more than double.

The latest addition to OpenAI’s enterprise portfolio debuted on Thursday. GPT-6 Cyber can perform most cybersecurity tasks better than GPT-6 Astra, the company’s most capable general-purpose model. OpenAI engineers used it to develop 948 Linux exploits and uncover 81 high-severity zero-day flaws in Firefox.

OpenAI President Greg Brockman revealed on Wednesday that the company had experienced a slowdown in the first half of the year. Its growth started accelerating after the June launch of GPT-5.6 Sol, the immediate predecessor to GPT-6 Astra. Brockman added that OpenAI’s ChatGPT Work productivity application and coding tools played a role as well.

The company plans to go public sometime in 2027. Today’s cash infusion should make it easier for OpenAI to finance its steep infrastructure expenses until the listing.

In July, The Information reported that the ChatGPT developer has more than $665 billion worth of chip and data center commitments. OpenAI has developed a custom inference accelerator in collaboration with Broadcom Inc. as part of an effort to lower its long-term hardware spending.

Anthropic, for its part, is expected to kick off its IPO roadmap next week. The company reportedly plans to go public before Thanksgiving.

Photo: OpenAI

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