These talks began before OpenAI's initial public offering, and according to a person familiar with the matter, any decision to proceed with further fundraising will depend on the exact timing of the company's IPO.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, previously told Fortune that the company's IPO is still under consideration but will not take place in 2026. Additional fundraising could give OpenAI more flexibility to delay its IPO for another one or two quarters.
Another reason OpenAI may seek more funding is to finance further mergers and acquisitions. The company has so far spent billions of dollars buying startups, including io, the AI hardware startup owned by Jony Ive, Apple's former design chief, and Astral, a maker of Python tools for developers.
Fundraising on this scale could put OpenAI ahead of its main rival, Anthropic. In May, Anthropic raised capital in a new funding round at a $965 billion valuation.
OpenAI is also reviewing legal limits on the information it can provide to private-market investors ahead of an IPO.
The Financial Times reported on Tuesday, 15 September, that the new funding round would allow OpenAI's early backers to increase their investment stake in the company before an IPO.
Anthropic is also preparing for an IPO and has chosen Nasdaq as its listing venue. The maker of the chatbot Claude intends to raise as much or more capital as SpaceX in its IPO, and the offering could begin as early as October.
According to Bloomberg, SpaceX set a record by raising $86.3 billion in June with its share offering./ ISNA