MGX is eyeing another round of OpenAI investment

MGX wants a bigger bite of OpenAI, Reuters reports.

The Abu Dhabi state AI investor is among the existing OpenAI backers in talks to join a new fundraising round of about USD 30 bn. That round could value the ChatGPT maker at more than USD 1.4 tn, Reuters says, citing two people it says are familiar with the matter. That’s c. 64% above the USD 852 bn OpenAI was valued at in March. SoftBank is also in talks to take part.

OpenAI wants to close the round before rival Anthropic’s expected public listing in mid-November. Some pundits have suggested that slowing month-on-month growth could put downward pressure on Anthropic’s valuation, giving OpenAI good reason to want to raise now at what could be a high-water mark.

Why it matters for Abu Dhabi: If it closes, this would be the second OpenAI round backed by MGX this year. It co-led a USD 122 bn round that closed in March.

MGX would also have money on both sides of what one analyst called a two-horse race to go public. MGX co-led Anthropic’s USD 30 bn Series G in February and came back for its USD 65 bn Series H in May at a roughly USD 965 bn valuation.