OpenAI reportedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuation

OpenAI is reportedly back in the market, talking with investors about a pre-IPO round worth at least $30 billion at a valuation around $1.4 trillion. Bloomberg reported the deal on Tuesday. If it happens, it would be a bridge between the company’s last private fundraising and the eventual public listing.

The timing says a lot. Investors are still eager to back the ChatGPT maker ahead of a stock market debut that is now expected next year, even after OpenAI already raised $122 billion in March at an $852 billion valuation. That round was supposed to be the last private one before an IPO. At the time, the listing was still expected this year.

OpenAI’s pitch to the market has changed too. Bloomberg said the company has refocused on areas like coding, and that shift has helped drive a 70% jump in run-rate revenue since July. By August, that figure had reached $40 billion.

But the IPO itself is no longer on the near horizon. CEO Sam Altman has ruled out a public debut in 2026, saying AI safety has to come first. He has also been blunt about the risks, warning recently that a 10% chance of “killing everybody by the end of the decade” is unacceptable. OpenAI didn’t respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.