OpenAI is seeking to complete a new funding round of at least $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion, using a bridge round to replenish its capital reserves after postponing its IPO plans.

According to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, discussions about the financing are still at an early stage and the final plan may change. One of the people said demand for this round is mainly being driven by investors.

If the financing is successfully completed, OpenAI's valuation would surpass rival Anthropic's latest private-market valuation and allow it to reclaim its leading position in the industry.

On the product side, OpenAI has just announced the launch of a new always-on AI agent called "Dots," directly targeting Meta's Muse; it also adjusted its subscription plans and added a high-end package costing $500 per month.

On the revenue side, OpenAI's annualized recurring revenue (ARR) has approached $70 billion, and its annualized revenue run rate has grown by more than 70% since the start of the third quarter.

Bridge round replaces IPO, funding scale reaches a new high

This funding round is intended to serve as bridge capital ahead of OpenAI's IPO. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman previously said that, given concerns about AI safety, the company would give up listing this year and described the current moment as an "unwise time" for an IPO.

OpenAI's previous funding round was completed in March this year, with a valuation including the funds raised reaching $852 billion and a financing amount of $12.2 billion. The current target valuation of $1.4 trillion excludes the funds raised and marks a sharp jump from the previous round.

By comparison, rival Anthropic has submitted a confidential listing application and is expected to complete a public listing as early as this autumn. OpenAI has also submitted confidential listing documents, and the two companies are racing to expand their enterprise customer base and boost revenue before landing on Wall Street.

Under safety pressure, product and R&D strategies turn more cautious

OpenAI is facing increasingly strict external scrutiny of the potential risks of AI, including concerns about cybersecurity vulnerabilities and other catastrophic harms.

The company's technology has been involved in multiple security incidents, including attacks on Australian government websites. This week, OpenAI announced that it would temporarily not release its latest model, GPT-6.1 Astra, because the system failed to pass internal safety standards.

At the industry level, Altman expressed support for a proposal by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to slow the pace of developing the most frontier AI models and introduce independent evaluators to help ensure technical safety.

The move signals that leading AI companies are converging in their positions on regulation and safety issues.

Revenue growth accelerates, competition in the AI agent race speeds up

Although it was seen as being at a competitive disadvantage during parts of this year, OpenAI has worked to narrow its product focus and regained market momentum in workflow optimization tools such as code generation.

At its developer conference this week, OpenAI released "Dots," an always-on AI agent positioned to compete directly with similar products such as Meta's Muse and aimed at the increasingly crowded AI agent market.

On the subscription side, OpenAI also launched a high-end package costing $500 per month, offering higher usage limits and faster processing speeds; at the same time, some usage limits of the existing $200 package were adjusted and tightened.

Revenue data supports this strategic positioning. According to media reports, OpenAI's annualized recurring revenue (ARR) has approached $70 billion, and its annualized revenue run rate has grown by more than 70% since the start of the third quarter.

OpenAI's enterprise sales have more than doubled since July; new consumer revenue added in the third quarter has already exceeded the total new consumer revenue added in all of 2025. This acceleration may further strengthen its bargaining power in this round of financing negotiations.