OpenAI in talks to raise $30bn at $1.4tn valuation

OpenAI is in early talks to raise at least $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion before the new money, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Bloomberg said the demand is being led by investors and that terms could still change.

The round would serve as a bridge rather than a public listing. OpenAI raised $122 billion in March 2026 at an $852 billion valuation, a round that had been intended as its last private raise before going public this year. Bloomberg had earlier reported OpenAI was discussing a round at roughly $1.2 trillion.

OpenAI's annualised revenue run rate has risen to nearly $70 billion, Axios reported, up more than 70% since the start of the third quarter. CNBC put the figure at about $68 billion, citing a source who said revenue rose 20% in September alone. The run rate stood at about $40 billion in August, according to the notes.

Growth is being driven by subscriptions, enterprise demand, the Codex coding tool and an emerging advertising business, according to TechCrunch. Business-to-business revenue has more than doubled since July, and the consumer revenue added in the third quarter alone exceeds OpenAI's entire consumer revenue for 2025.

OpenAI's operating loss widened to $12.3 billion in the second quarter of 2026, up from $9.3 billion in the first quarter, according to Investing.com. The company does not disclose its spending.

OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar told CNBC at the company's DevDay event on Tuesday that the third quarter was "incredible" and confirmed 70% quarter-over-quarter growth. She said people had doubted anyone would pay $200 a month when OpenAI launched that plan, and that consumers are now shifting toward consumption-based pricing rather than paying only for seats.

OpenAI has pushed its IPO out of 2026 to prioritise AI safety concerns, and investors now expect a debut in 2027. Both OpenAI and rival Anthropic have filed confidentially for public listings, with Anthropic potentially listing this autumn.

At the same DevDay event, OpenAI launched its Dots agents, the GPT-6.1 Sol model and a $500-a-month Pro 500 plan. The funding talks remain at an early stage, and OpenAI has not confirmed the figures reported by Bloomberg.