OpenAI is reportedly assembling an OpenAI $30B raise, a private funding round of up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, according to a CNBC report published October 22, 2026. Coatue and investors from the UAE are said to be leading the round. The terms remain under negotiation and could still change.
Where the new numbers differ from earlier reports
About a month before the CNBC report, Bloomberg described a similarly sized $30 billion raise but attached a $1.4 trillion valuation to it. The two accounts agree on the scale of the capital being sought and on the fact that the deal is not finalized; they diverge on the price. Neither figure is confirmed by OpenAI, which declined to comment.
The reported pre-money valuation of $1.25 trillion is also a step up from OpenAI’s most recent private round. In March, the company raised funds at an $852 billion post-money valuation. The gap between that figure and the current reported target reflects how quickly the company’s private market pricing has moved in a matter of months.
Coatue, the UAE, and a possible computing arrangement
Coatue’s participation places a familiar growth-stage investor at the center of the round. The UAE involvement carries an additional dimension: CNBC reported that funding from the Gulf may be tied to a computing capacity deal for OpenAI. The exact size of the UAE investment and the structure of any capacity arrangement have not been disclosed.
The distinction between pre-money and post-money valuation matters here. The $1.25 trillion figure describes OpenAI’s worth before the new capital is counted; the final post-money number would be higher if the round closes at the reported size and terms. That is one reason the figures being discussed should be treated as provisional until the deal is signed.
A private round, not an IPO
Despite the headline valuation, this is not a public offering. OpenAI filed confidential IPO paperwork in June, but it is pursuing private funding rather than moving directly to a listing. The timing of any IPO remains unknown. The reported private valuation could shape expectations for that eventual offering, though the brief does not specify how.
What a $1T-plus valuation would mean
If the round is completed above the $1 trillion mark, OpenAI would become the most highly valued private company on record. That threshold is the central significance of the reported number: it is not simply a large raise but a potential reordering of how the private market prices the leading AI developer.
Anthropic's parallel path
OpenAI is not the only AI company preparing for public markets. Anthropic, its rival, raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation in May and filed confidential paperwork in June. CNBC reported that Anthropic is seeking an IPO valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion, a range that sits above OpenAI’s reported private valuation. Rumors suggest Anthropic’s public S-1 filing could arrive any day, though no date has been confirmed.
The two companies’ trajectories are intertwined. Anthropic’s expected IPO valuation could be affected by OpenAI’s valuation, and the reverse may also hold as investors compare the two. For now, both remain private, both have taken the confidential filing step, and neither has set a public timetable.
OpenAI’s reported round, if finalized at the figures described, would set a private-market record and give the company a substantial war chest ahead of its eventual listing. Until the terms are locked, the $30 billion size and the $1.25 trillion valuation remain reports rather than confirmed facts.
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