TL;DR
- Funding Race: OpenAI is reportedly seeking about $30 billion in investment commitments before rival AI developer Anthropic’s expected November stock-market debut.
- Capital Delivery: SoftBank completed an earlier $30 billion OpenAI investment on October 1, paying its final $10 billion installment.
- Revenue Dispute: OpenAI challenges Anthropic’s revenue accounting as investors weigh the rivals’ valuations; Anthropic says it follows established practices.
OpenAI is pushing to secure about $30 billion from investors before rival artificial intelligence developer Anthropic’s expected mid-November stock-market debut, Reuters reports. The ChatGPT maker is seeking commitments while the two companies approach increasingly overlapping backers, competing over where those investors allocate their money.
The proposed round could value OpenAI above $1.4 trillion. SoftBank and Abu Dhabi-based investment fund MGX are among existing backers in talks to participate, according to the people cited by Reuters. OpenAI and SoftBank declined comment for the report; Anthropic and MGX did not immediately respond.
Overlapping Backers Face Two Financing Offers
OpenAI met investment funds, including sovereign wealth funds that invest state assets, in the week before the report, while Anthropic hosted its own investor day. Reuters’ sources described a process moving unusually quickly for a round of this size, with investors evaluating competing offers within days or weeks.
MGX was also an investor in Anthropic’s May funding round, when the Claude developer raised $65 billion.
Anthropic’s May funding round valued it at $965 billion, including the new investment. A public offering would give investors another opportunity to buy into the company, which many critics see as extremely overvalued and possibly facing a risk of bancruptcy, an outlook it shares with OpenAI. Anthropic expects to spend at least $518 billion on AI infrastructure over roughly a decade.
Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigned Anthropic a BB+ rating (speculative grade / high-yield “junk” rating, one notch below investment grade) in June 2026 covering portions of its junior and senior chip debt.
Anthropic submitted a confidential draft registration for an initial public offering to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1. Its announcement made the offering conditional on the regulator’s review, market conditions and other factors.
Reuters reported strong demand for shares in both developers. Some investors nevertheless saw OpenAI’s accelerated effort as a way to secure money that funds might otherwise allocate to Anthropic’s offering.
Financial Disclosures Could Change the Comparison
One person cited by Reuters said OpenAI wanted to finish fundraising before Anthropic’s financial disclosures gave investors a fuller view of its business. Those disclosures could bring demands for more detail from OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar about its own revenue growth and outlook.
Edward Best, co-chair of capital markets at law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, suggested OpenAI might prefer to establish its valuation before facing a competitor comparison.
OpenAI’s pitch includes an annualized revenue figure of $50 billion and an expectation of reaching $70 billion by the end of 2026, according to Reuters’ sources. Annualized revenue projects a recent sales pace over a full year.
The controversial accounting method also changes the number investors see. OpenAI deducts partners’ shares when recording revenue and has accused Anthropic of inflating its figures by counting the full value of contracts sold through outside cloud providers. Anthropic’s response to that criticism was that it follows established accounting practices.
On October 8, the Financial Times reported that investor documents put OpenAI’s annualized revenue near $50 billion at the end of September. A person responding through CNBC said an earlier $68 billion estimate included gross revenue from partnerships, to make comparison with Anthropic easier.
Anthropic told investors third-quarter revenue reached $16.8 billion, up from $11.6 billion in the second quarter, while slowing monthly growth raised concerns. After Anthropic’s quarterly results fell short of expectations, some existing and prospective investors favored an IPO valuation nearer $1.5 trillion rather than the $2 trillion the company sought, Reuters reported.
Earlier Commitments Still Finance OpenAI
OpenAI’s March funding round closed with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion valuation including the investment. Committed capital can arrive in installments.
SoftBank paid the final $10 billion installment of an earlier $30 billion OpenAI investment on October 1 through Vision Fund 2, its investment vehicle. It financed that payment with proceeds from issuing senior notes, a form of debt.
Investors familiar with OpenAI told Reuters the company needs capital for infrastructure commitments and to strengthen its finances if weaker IPO markets further delay its planned 2027 listing.
