OpenAI cuts fundraising target by $10 billion

[Financial News]

The Financial Times (FT), citing sources, reported on the 31st of last month (local time) that OpenAI had recently cut its fundraising target by $10 billion (about 1,335 trillion won). The move came as investors grew more wary amid a sell-off in related stocks, with massive AI investments failing to deliver profitability.
According to sources, OpenAI had planned last month to raise $30 billion at a valuation of $1.4 trillion. It has now lowered its valuation to $1.25 trillion and its fundraising target to $20 billion. Even so, its valuation has risen sharply from about $852 billion in July.
The deadline for the “first close” of this fundraising round was the 30th. However, OpenAI is expected to fall short even of the revised $20 billion target.
The money is expected to come mainly from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Gulf region. Sources said investors including the UAE and its state-owned technology fund MGX are forming a consortium to participate as the largest investor, and that OpenAI plans to lease newly secured computing capacity in the region.
Venture capital firms including Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and Japan’s SoftBank, as well as wealthy individual investors, are also reported to have taken part.
OpenAI raised $122 billion last March, but fundraising has continued because the company plans to spend several times that amount on AI training and operations.
An investor who participated in the fundraising said they had invested amid optimism about AI but were now in a difficult position as related stocks recently came under heavy selling pressure.
OpenAI has been put in an even more difficult position by its rival Anthropic’s initial public offering (IPO). Anthropic is set to go public at a valuation of at least $1.5 trillion, drawing market capital and attention to the IPO.
OpenAI appealed to investors by touting this as one of their last chances to participate in the company’s growth before a public listing pushes its valuation higher. But it appears to have had limited success persuading investors shaken by the plunge in AI-themed stocks.

[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter