OpenAI is preparing a new funding round of up to $30 billion: on October 22, TechCrunch, citing sources familiar with the matter at CNBC, reported that the deal is being structured around a pre-money valuation of $1.25 trillion. The round is being led by investment firm Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and OpenAI aims to collect investor commitments by the end of next week.
Round details
The terms of the deal are not yet final — the parties are continuing negotiations, and the terms may change during the process. For comparison, the company's previous round, closed in March this year, valued it at $852 billion on a post-money basis — details of that round are in the site's archive.
It matters here to distinguish two types of valuation: a pre-money valuation is the company's value before new money comes in, while a post-money valuation is its value after the raised capital is added. So the $1.25 trillion pre-money figure cannot be directly compared with the $852 billion post-money valuation from March — but the sheer size of the gap shows how sharply market expectations have risen. Put simply: when an investor enters a round at this valuation, it is this pre-money figure that determines how large a stake their money buys. That is why distinguishing valuation types matters for anyone following the process — the single number in the headline tells only part of the story.
According to a separate Reuters report published on October 19, negotiations are underway for SoftBank Group, Abu Dhabi-based MGX, and other existing investors to take part in the round. Citing two sources familiar with the matter, the agency writes that OpenAI is rushing to lock in investor commitments ahead of the expected mid-November IPO of its main rival, Anthropic. SoftBank and MGX are among the existing investors that also participated in the company's earlier rounds.
Compute capacity deal with the UAE
According to TechCrunch, the UAE investors' commitment may be tied to a separate agreement: the Emirates would provide OpenAI with additional computing capacity. In practical terms, this means data center capacity needed to train artificial intelligence (AI) models and run them at scale.
The more complex large language models become, the more computing resources their training and serving require — so it is no coincidence that capacity guarantees landed on the negotiating table alongside the funding talks. In other words, the UAE side is offering not just money but the physical capacity needed for the future growth of OpenAI's infrastructure. Such structures typically combine two elements: financial investment and technical guarantees. The computing capacity agreement is being considered as an additional clause that may change during negotiations — according to TechCrunch, the terms are not yet final. OpenAI declined to comment on the publication. That is why, for observers, the most important question is not the final size of the round, but the terms on which the parties conclude the negotiations.
Record valuation
"If OpenAI achieves a valuation above $1 trillion in this round, it would set a record as the most valuable private company in history; its last round in March valued the ChatGPT maker at $852 billion post-money, and OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO in June." — TechCrunch, citing CNBC sources
Crossing the $1 trillion mark would make OpenAI the most valuable private company of all time — no private company has ever reached such a valuation.
As a reminder, OpenAI confidentially filed for an IPO in June — meaning the public listing process is running in parallel with the fundraising talks. A confidential filing lets the company prepare without disclosing documents publicly, and the exact IPO date has not yet been announced.
It is also worth noting that this is not yet about an official announcement: both publications cite sources familiar with the matter, and OpenAI declined to comment. As negotiations continue, the final numbers — both the amount raised and the valuation — may change. Even so, the announced scale alone marks an unprecedented level in the history of the private market.
Pre-IPO race intensifies
Reuters notes that it is precisely the Anthropic factor that is pushing OpenAI to accelerate the deal with investors: the plan is to strengthen its own investor base ahead of the rival's IPO, expected in mid-November. According to TechCrunch, OpenAI aims to collect investor commitments by the end of next week. Reuters notes that existing investors such as SoftBank and MGX are also in the negotiations.
