OpenAI is racing to secure investor commitments for a funding round of about 30 billion dollars before rival Anthropic reaches the stock market, in a contest that could value the ChatGPT maker at more than 1.4 trillion dollars, Reuters reported on Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The timetable is unusually fast for a raise of this size, and it is aimed squarely at the calendar: Anthropic is expected to make its public market debut in mid-November.
Existing backers are at the center of the talks. SoftBank Group and Abu Dhabi-based MGX are among the investors in discussions to join the round, according to one of the people. OpenAI held meetings with long-only funds and sovereign wealth funds last week, at the same time Anthropic was hosting its own investor day, and its round is expected to move faster than is typical for an offering of this scale.
The pitch rests on growth. OpenAI is telling investors that revenue accelerated after the launch of its GPT-6 Astra model, reaching 50 billion dollars on an annualized basis, with an expectation of rising to 70 billion dollars by the end of the year, according to one of the people. The company has also cut prices on its cheaper models, which it says has boosted usage, and told investors it can lower the cost of running its models further.
Timing matters for another reason. OpenAI wants to complete the fundraising before Anthropic's financial disclosures give investors a fuller picture of its rival's business and invite direct comparisons between the two companies, one person said. Those disclosures could prompt investors to press OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar for more detail on revenue growth and outlook. "OpenAI could want to set its own valuation and not have to worry about a comp," said Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at Willkie Farr and Gallagher, who is not working on the deal.
The numbers underline how quickly the race has escalated. OpenAI was last valued at 852 billion dollars in March, after a record 122 billion dollar funding round that included a commitment from Amazon to invest up to 50 billion dollars. The company still plans its own listing in 2027, and investors familiar with it say fresh capital would fund its substantial infrastructure commitments and strengthen its balance sheet if weak IPO markets delay that debut further.
Anthropic, for its part, told investors its annualized revenue reached roughly 65 billion dollars by July, with quarterly revenue rising to 16.8 billion dollars in the third quarter from 11.6 billion dollars in the second. Slowing month-to-month growth has raised concerns, however, and some existing and prospective investors have argued for a debut valuation closer to 1.5 trillion dollars instead of the desired 2 trillion dollars.
All of this is unfolding in a hostile market. Technology stocks have been choppy since September, cloud provider CoreWeave's shares and debt tumbled last week under scrutiny of the nearly 50 billion dollars in borrowings behind its expansion, and several other planned listings have been pulled or paused. OpenAI and SoftBank declined to comment, and Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond, Reuters said.