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OpenAI Confidentially Files For Potential IPO, Joining Wave of Mega-Cap Listings

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OpenAI Confidentially Files For Potential IPO, Joining Wave of Mega-Cap Listings

OpenAI has confidentially filed for a potential initial public offering in the US, joining a series of mega-cap listings that could mark the largest capital-raising cycle on record.

"We recently submitted a confidential S-1," OpenAI said in a statement on Monday. "We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company."

An S-1 filing is the Securities and Exchange Commission's initial registration for companies going public.

"It's a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best," the ChatGPT maker said.

OpenAI closed a $122 billion funding round at an $852 billion post-money valuation, it said at the end of March. ChatGPT had more than 900 million weekly active users at the time.

The company is targeting a valuation of up to $1 trillion, with plans to go public as early as September, Reuters reported.

Last week, AI chatbot Claude maker Anthropic confidentially filed to go public in the US. Elon Musk-led SpaceX is looking to raise a record-breaking $75 billion in its IPO, and could be valued at $1.75 trillion, Reuters reported earlier this month.

A wave of IPOs expected this year could raise the most amount of capital on record, Wells Fargo Investment Institute said in a note on Monday.

These mega-cap IPOs may drive methodology adjustments by index providers and see new constituents added to index funds and exchange-traded funds, the brokerage said.

"This can trigger buying pressure and temporarily drive up IPO valuations," Douglas Beath, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, wrote. "It could also drain liquidity from other areas of the market, and increase concentration within major indexes."

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