OpenAI Prepares for IPO as Valuation Reaches $852 Billion After $122 Billion Raise

OpenAI is preparing for a potential initial public offering after raising $122 billion and reaching a valuation of approximately $852 billion, according to reports from April 2026.

CFO Sarah Friar said the company plans to reserve part of the IPO for individual investors, a move that could value the company at up to $1 trillion. The IPO timeline has not been confirmed.

The fundraising has come alongside a strategic shift. OpenAI is moving away from an "everything at once" approach and focusing on core products, including coding tools and enterprise solutions. The company is also working on tighter integration across its product lineup.

Perplexity, an AI search startup, reached an annualized revenue run rate of $500 million, showing that AI-powered search is becoming commercially viable.

Anthropic, a competing AI company, completed an employee tender offer at a $350 billion valuation. The company also introduced Claude Managed Agents, a tool for deploying autonomous AI agents in enterprise production environments. Anthropic built a model called Mythos that it deemed too powerful for broad release due to its ability to surface thousands of software vulnerabilities. The company launched Project Glasswing with Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Nvidia to use the model for defensive cybersecurity work.

Meta committed an additional $21 billion to cloud provider CoreWeave between 2027 and 2032, on top of a prior $14.2 billion commitment. Meta's 2026 capital expenditures are projected at $115 to $135 billion, nearly double 2025 levels, driven by AI compute demand.

Startups globally raised about $297 billion in the first quarter of 2026, a record high, largely driven by AI-related deals.