OpenAI nears up to $30 billion round at $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, led by Coatue and UAE investors

OpenAI is closing in on a funding round of up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, led by Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates, according to people familiar with the deal.

The terms are still being negotiated and could change, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the details were confidential. The final size is still being determined. OpenAI told investors on Thursday that it is aiming to secure signatures by the end of next week, a timeline that suggests the company wants to lock in capital before year-end. The financing is being positioned as an ‘opportunistic’ bridge ahead of a potential IPO. Investors approached OpenAI with proposals in September, kickstarting discussions that the San Francisco-based company did not initiate on its own. Because the valuation is pre-money, it does not include the new capital the round would inject, meaning the company’s post-money worth would climb higher once the full amount is committed and the deal closes.

Bloomberg reported one month ago that OpenAI was working on raising $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation, a higher figure than the one now under discussion and an indication that the terms have shifted as negotiations progressed. OpenAI’s last raise in March valued the company at $852 billion post-money, meaning the new round would represent a sharp jump in perceived worth. OpenAI declined comment.

The UAE compute connection

The UAE funding could be coupled with a deal to secure more computing capacity for OpenAI from the UAE, according to one person familiar with the discussions. The arrangement would tie capital to infrastructure at a moment when OpenAI is racing to expand its compute footprint. OpenAI told investors in February that it is targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend by 2030, a figure that frames the scale of infrastructure the company believes it will need to build to remain at the frontier of artificial intelligence development. The person did not detail the scope or value of the compute arrangement.

The IPO backdrop

OpenAI confidentially filed paperwork for an IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, taking the first formal regulatory step toward a public listing. The company has not disclosed exactly when it plans to debut as a public company. CFO Sarah Friar told employees in August that OpenAI ‘will be a public company in 2027.’ In September, CEO Sam Altman said that ‘right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public.’ The two statements, from the company’s top two executives, leave OpenAI’s precise timeline unresolved even as the private round advances toward a close and the company continues to file regulatory paperwork behind the scenes.

Anthropic’s parallel march

Anthropic, OpenAI’s chief rival, is also preparing for a public offering that could come sooner than OpenAI’s. Anthropic closed a $65 billion funding round at a $965 billion valuation in May, a raise that many observers expected would be its last private round before an IPO. Anthropic also confidentially filed its prospectus with regulators in June. Anthropic is seeking a valuation between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion for its public debut, a range that would exceed the pre-money figure OpenAI is now pursuing in private markets. Anthropic is actively engaging in meetings with prospective investors. Anthropic’s public S-1 filing could appear any day now, per rumors.