OpenAI’s annualized revenue nears $70B
It seeks $30B+ at a ~$1.4T valuation as a bridge in place of an IPO
Partly confirmed
Importance: major (4 of 5)The takeaway
On Sept 29, 2026 Axios reported that OpenAI’s annual recurring revenue was nearing $70B, up more than 70% since the start of Q3, with business revenue more than doubling.
Status
- Claim
Partly confirmed
- Our reporting
- Medium confidence
- Importance
- Major (4 of 5)
- Last verified
- 23 October 2026
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Key facts
- ARR nearing $70B, up more than 70% since the beginning of Q3 2026 (Axios, citing sources familiar with the financials)
- B2B revenue grew more than 100% over the same period; enterprise sales more than doubled since July (Axios)
- Consumer: OpenAI added more revenue in Q3 2026 than in all of 2025 (Axios)
- New round: at least $30B at about $1.4T pre-money; early-stage talks, terms may change; meant as bridge financing in place of an IPO (Bloomberg via Reuters)
- Previous round: $122B closed in March 2026 at an $852B post-money valuation (SoftBank, Amazon, Nvidia anchors)
- Oct 1: SoftBank and Nvidia each paid the final $10B of their $30B pledges to the March round (SoftBank stake ~13%, cumulative $64.6B); this completes the old round and is separate from the new $30B+ raise, which still had no reported close or lead investors (Reuters, The Information)
- Funding SoftBank’s final tranche: on Sept 24 SoftBank sold $11.1B of bonds ($10B in dollar notes across three maturities plus about €1B in euro notes) to pay the last $10B of its $30B commitment; its shares rose more than 7% (CNBC, Benzinga)
- Context: on Sept 12 Altman ruled out an OpenAI IPO in 2026 (see Sam Altman rules out a 2026 OpenAI IPO, calling it “ill-advised” given AI safety concerns)
Show 3 more
- Oct 5 (Bloomberg via TNW): OpenAI is in talks with Abu Dhabi’s MGX, which is discussing a syndicate of UAE funds worth up to $10B, and with BlackRock to anchor the $30B round; the University of California endowment, Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are also considering joining. No lead investor chosen yet
- Reuters (Oct 19, via Techmeme and News.az): OpenAI is racing to secure investor commitments before Anthropic’s IPO, expected in mid-November, aiming to raise ~$30B at a valuation that could exceed $1.4T; existing backers SoftBank and Abu Dhabi’s MGX are reportedly discussing participation; OpenAI declined to comment
- Valuation cut (Oct 22, 2026): CNBC reports OpenAI nears an up to $30B round led by Coatue with UAE investors at a $1.25T pre-money valuation, an ‘opportunistic’ bridge ahead of an IPO, possibly paired with more UAE compute; the FT says OpenAI cut the target from the $1.4T it pitched earlier in October after resistance from some investors (TechCrunch summary; terms still under negotiation, OpenAI declined to comment). Prior round: $852B post-money in March
What happened
Two reports on the same day, DevDay: Axios on OpenAI’s revenue run rate, and Bloomberg on a new private round sized as a bridge to a later IPO.
Why it matters
A ~$1.4T pre-money valuation would be about 1.6x the March round, set while Anthropic’s leaked prospectus reportedly targets $2T+. It shows the two leading labs racing on revenue and capital even as both call for slowing frontier development. Figures are anonymous-source reports, so confidence is medium.
Sources
17 sources from 11 sites. Numbers match the chips in the text.
17 sources: 17 press
Press
- TechCrunch: OpenAI working on new $30B raise at $1.25T valuation ahead of IPO (Oct 22)techcrunch.com, press
- CNBC: OpenAI nears up to $30 billion funding round at $1.25 trillion valuation led by UAE investorscnbc.com, press
- Bloomberg: OpenAI in $30 billion round talks with UAE funds, BlackRock (Oct 5)bloomberg.com, press
- Investing.com: OpenAI in talks with UAE funds to anchor $30 bln funding round - Bloomberginvesting.com, press
- Bloomberg newsletter: OpenAI seeks $30 billion as rush to raise AI money accelerates (Oct 6)bloomberg.com, press
- The Next Web (Oct 5): OpenAI in talks with Abu Dhabi’s MGX and BlackRock for a $30B round (citing Bloomberg)thenextweb.com, press
- Axios: Scoop: OpenAI’s annual recurring revenue nears $70Baxios.com, press
- Bloomberg: OpenAI targets $30 billion in new funding at $1.4 trillion valuebloomberg.com, press
- Reuters via Investing.com: OpenAI targets $30 billion funding at $1.4 trillion valuationinvesting.com, press
- Reuters via Investing.com: OpenAI’s annualized recurring revenue nears $70 billioninvesting.com, press
- TechCrunch: OpenAI reportedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuationtechcrunch.com, press
- Quartz: OpenAI targets $30 billion funding round at $1.4 trillion valuationqz.com, press
Show all 17 sources
- Economic Times: OpenAI targets $30 billion in new funding at $1.4 trillion valueeconomictimes.indiatimes.com, press
- CNBC: SoftBank shares jump over 7% after $11.1 billion bond issuance to fund OpenAI betcnbc.com, press
- Benzinga: SoftBank launches $11.1B bond sale to fund final $10B OpenAI investment tranchebenzinga.com, press
- Reuters: OpenAI seeks to accelerate fundraising ahead of Anthropic IPO, sources say (Oct 19; blocked for us)reuters.com, press
- News.az: Why is OpenAI racing to raise $30 billion before Anthropic’s IPO? (Reuters summary)news.az, press
Changes
- Added the Oct 22 cut to a $1.25T pre-money valuation (UAE investors; FT: down from $1.4T)
- Reuters Oct 19: OpenAI speeds up the round to land commitments before Anthropic’s mid-November IPO; SoftBank and MGX in talks (Techmeme; Reuters read via News.az)
- Added the Bloomberg Oct 5 article and follow-ups on the UAE/BlackRock talks
- Added Bloomberg’s Oct 5 report (via TNW) of talks with MGX-led UAE funds (up to $10B) and BlackRock; still no lead or close
- Added SoftBank’s $11.1B bond sale (Sept 24) that funded its final tranche; new round still had no reported close or lead investors
- Noted that SoftBank and Nvidia completed the March round’s final tranches on Oct 1; the new round was still unclosed
Show all 8 changes
- Added Economic Times link (no close or lead investors reported as of Sept 30 evening)
- Filed