--- id: "2026-09-29-openai-70b-arr-30b-raise" url: "https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-29-openai-70b-arr-30b-raise/" as_of: "2026-11-13T13:49:00+01:00" date: "2026-09-29" date_precision: day category: business importance: 4 confidence: medium status: [Partly confirmed] sources: 17 editor: human editor human_review: null version: "2026-10-23" --- As of: 2026-11-13 13:49 CET. Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/ Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-29-openai-70b-arr-30b-raise/ # OpenAI's annualized revenue nears $70B Full title: OpenAI's annualized revenue nears $70B; it seeks $30B+ at a ~$1.4T valuation as a bridge in place of an IPO 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. The same day Bloomberg reported that OpenAI aims to raise at least $30B at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion before the new money, as bridge financing while it defers an IPO. Talks were early and terms could change. ## 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 [2026-09-12-altman-rules-out-2026-openai-ipo](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-12-altman-rules-out-2026-openai-ipo/index.md)) - 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. ## Your AI and this story - GPT-6 Astra (training cutoff April 2026): 152 days after its cutoff - Claude Opus 5.5 (training cutoff June 2026): 91 days after its cutoff - Gemini 4 Hydrogen (training cutoff March 2026): 182 days after its cutoff - Grok 4.7 (training cutoff May 2026): 121 days after its cutoff ## Sources 1. [TechCrunch: OpenAI working on new $30B raise at $1.25T valuation ahead of IPO (Oct 22)](https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/22/openai-working-on-new-30b-raise-at-1-25t-valuation-ahead-of-ipo/) (techcrunch.com, press) 2. [CNBC: OpenAI nears up to $30 billion funding round at $1.25 trillion valuation led by UAE investors](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/22/openai-funding-round-uae-investors.html) (cnbc.com, press) 3. [Bloomberg: OpenAI in $30 billion round talks with UAE funds, BlackRock (Oct 5)](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-05/openai-in-talks-with-uae-funds-blackrock-for-30-billion-round) (bloomberg.com, press) 4. [Investing.com: OpenAI in talks with UAE funds to anchor $30 bln funding round - Bloomberg](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/openai-in-talks-with-uae-funds-to-anchor-30-bln-funding-round--bloomberg-4933143) (investing.com, press) 5. [Bloomberg newsletter: OpenAI seeks $30 billion as rush to raise AI money accelerates (Oct 6)](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-10-06/openai-seeks-30-billion-as-rush-to-raise-ai-money-accelerates) (bloomberg.com, press) 6. [The Next Web (Oct 5): OpenAI in talks with Abu Dhabi's MGX and BlackRock for a $30B round (citing Bloomberg)](https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-30bn-mgx-blackrock-europe) (thenextweb.com, press) 7. [Axios: Scoop: OpenAI's annual recurring revenue nears $70B](https://www.axios.com/2026/09/29/scoop-openais-annual-recurring-revenue-nears-70b) (axios.com, press) 8. [Bloomberg: OpenAI targets $30 billion in new funding at $1.4 trillion value](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-29/openai-targets-30-billion-in-new-funding-at-1-4-trillion-value) (bloomberg.com, press) 9. [Reuters via Investing.com: OpenAI targets $30 billion funding at $1.4 trillion valuation](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/openai-targets-30-billion-funding-at-14-trillion-valuation-bloomberg-news-reports-4923324) (investing.com, press) 10. [Reuters via Investing.com: OpenAI's annualized recurring revenue nears $70 billion](https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/openais-annual-recurring-revenue-nears-70-billion-axios-reports-4923088) (investing.com, press) 11. [TechCrunch: OpenAI reportedly in talks to raise $30B round at $1.4T valuation](https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/29/openai-repotedly-in-talks-to-raise-30b-round-at-1-4t-valuation/) (techcrunch.com, press) 12. [Quartz: OpenAI targets $30 billion funding round at $1.4 trillion valuation](https://qz.com/openai-funding-round-30-billion-valuation-092926) (qz.com, press) 13. [Economic Times: OpenAI targets $30 billion in new funding at $1.4 trillion value](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/openai-targets-30-billion-in-new-funding-at-1-4-trillion-value/articleshow/134572196.cms) (economictimes.indiatimes.com, press) 14. [CNBC: SoftBank shares jump over 7% after $11.1 billion bond issuance to fund OpenAI bet](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/24/softbank-shares-bond-issuance-openai.html) (cnbc.com, press) 15. [Benzinga: SoftBank launches $11.1B bond sale to fund final $10B OpenAI investment tranche](https://www.benzinga.com/markets/private-markets/26/09/61964584/softbank-launches-11-1-billion-bond-sale-to-fund-final-10-billion-openai-investment-tranche) (benzinga.com, press) 16. [Reuters: OpenAI seeks to accelerate fundraising ahead of Anthropic IPO, sources say (Oct 19; blocked for us)](https://www.reuters.com/world/openai-seeks-accelerate-fundraising-ahead-anthropic-ipo-sources-say-2026-10-19/) (reuters.com, press) 17. [News.az: Why is OpenAI racing to raise $30 billion before Anthropic's IPO? (Reuters summary)](https://news.az/news/why-is-openai-racing-to-raise-30-billion-before-anthropic-s-ipo) (news.az, press) ## Changes - 2026-10-23: Added the Oct 22 cut to a $1.25T pre-money valuation (UAE investors; FT: down from $1.4T) - 2026-10-20: 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) - 2026-10-07: Added the Bloomberg Oct 5 article and follow-ups on the UAE/BlackRock talks - 2026-10-06: 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 - 2026-10-04: Added SoftBank's $11.1B bond sale (Sept 24) that funded its final tranche; new round still had no reported close or lead investors - 2026-10-01: Noted that SoftBank and Nvidia completed the March round's final tranches on Oct 1; the new round was still unclosed - 2026-09-30: Added Economic Times link (no close or lead investors reported as of Sept 30 evening) - 2026-09-29 (filed): Created ## Related - 2026-09-29: [OpenAI DevDay 2026 brings dots agents, GPT-6.1 Sol, Ultrafast and a $500 Pro plan](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-29-openai-devday-2026/index.md) - 2026-09-28: [Reuters obtains Anthropic's IPO prospectus](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-28-anthropic-ipo-prospectus-leak/index.md) - 2026-09-12: [Sam Altman rules out a 2026 OpenAI IPO, calling it "ill-advised" given AI safety concerns](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-09-12-altman-rules-out-2026-openai-ipo/index.md) - 2026-03-31: [OpenAI closes record $122B funding round at $852B valuation](https://postcutoff.com/e/2026-03-31-openai-122b-funding-round/index.md) - People: [Sam Altman](https://postcutoff.com/person/sam-altman/)