OpenAI Nears Up to $30B Raise at $1.25 Trillion Valuation Led by UAE Backers and Coatue
CNBC, citing sources, reports that OpenAI is close to finalizing a new round of funding of up to $30 billion at a pre-money valuation of $1.25 trillion (excluding new capital), led by UAE investors together with Coatue. Multiple posters (@kimmonismus, @ns123abc, @Kr00ney) relayed the news with consistent framing.
Confirmed
- Round size: up to $30 billion, led by UAE investors and Coatue
- Valuation: $1.25 trillion pre-money, crossing the $1 trillion mark
- Nature of the round: officially described as "opportunistic" bridge financing ahead of a potential IPO
- Related deal: OpenAI is simultaneously negotiating a commercial agreement to secure more compute resources from the UAE
- @ns123abc noted that Sam Altman had previously made related moves in the UAE (the post did not elaborate)
Why it matters
- The $1.25 trillion valuation exceeds Anthropic's last private round, while Anthropic is pursuing an IPO—the valuation race between the two has become the focal point of the AI capital race
- Deep involvement by UAE capital as lead investor, possibly paired with a compute agreement, shows sovereign capital and compute resources are becoming key levers in top AI companies' funding structures
- The "pre-IPO bridge financing" framing suggests OpenAI's listing window is drawing near
2026-10-23 ~ 2026-10-23 · 7 related posts
- Episode 1: OpenAI Races to Raise $30B at Over $1.4 Trillion Valuation Ahead of Anthropic IPO(2026-10-20, 8 posts)
- Episode 2: OpenAI Nears Up to $30B Raise at $1.25 Trillion Valuation Led by UAE Backers and Coatue(2026-10-23, 7 posts)
Primary sources
- OpenAI nears up to $30B funding round at $1.25 trillion valuation — kimmonismus · 2026-10-23
- OpenAI raising at $1.25T valuation; investor says Anthropic should price at $1.5T — bindureddy · 2026-10-23
5 near-duplicate retellings: kimmonismus · Kr00ney · Kr00ney · ns123abc · ns123abc