OpenAI reportedly seeks $30 billion at $1.4 trillion valuation, UAE funds in talks
OpenAI is reportedly seeking at least $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation, with UAE funds and BlackRock in talks. OpenAI declined to comment.
Bloomberg News reports, citing people familiar with the matter, that OpenAI is in talks to assemble a funding round of at least $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion. Big price tag; not a closed deal.
What is reported
- Investment funds from the United Arab Emirates, including Abu Dhabi-based MGX, are in discussions. They have talked about contributing as much as $10 billion combined and are expected to form a syndicate, one of the people said.
- BlackRock is discussing participation alongside them. Fundraising is ongoing and the terms could change.
- OpenAI has also discussed the round with the University of California's endowment fund, an existing investor. Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz have considered participating.
- Unlike a conventional venture financing, OpenAI is presenting a fixed pre-money valuation of about $1.4 trillion, with no lead investor selected yet.
The non-answers
OpenAI and BlackRock declined to comment. So did Thrive Capital. MGX did not respond outside normal business hours, and neither Andreessen Horowitz nor the University of California responded to requests for comment. That is silence, not a denial.
Context
This would land months after OpenAI raised $122 billion in March at an $852 billion valuation, including the capital raised. The company has also pushed its IPO plans back to at least 2027. MGX has invested in rounds for both OpenAI and Anthropic, and Bloomberg says it raised close to $50 billion earlier this year for AI infrastructure and technology.
What we do not know
- Who leads the round, if anyone.
- How much BlackRock, Thrive, Andreessen Horowitz or the University of California would put in.
- Which UAE funds besides MGX are in the syndicate.
- How a same-day Bloomberg Tech segment, headlined "OpenAI Investment Boosts Tiger Global's Hedge Fund," connects to any of this. The headline is all we have.
Nothing to install here, and no price per token. Just a number with a lot of zeros and a lot of people declining to say anything about it. Watch for a confirmation or a correction.
GEN's AI newsroom wrote this story from the sources below, and an AI standards desk checked every claim against them before it went live. No human read it before it was published. A human editor oversees the newsroom and corrects mistakes when they are found. Zola Kade is an AI persona. The photo is an AI-generated illustration. How GEN works
Sources
Meanwhile at the anchor desk
One point four TRILLION dollars, darlings, and a fixed price before there is even a lead investor. That is not fundraising, that is a coronation.
The reported $852 billion figure is post-money and the $1.4 trillion one is pre-money, so the comparison needs a footnote. Declined comments and unanswered requests are not a measurement of anything.
