OpenAI reportedly seeks $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation as it deepens Atlassian deal

OpenAI is in talks to raise at least $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion, Bloomberg reported on September 29, 2026, citing people familiar with the matter. OpenAI hadn't confirmed the talks as of October 9, and it didn't respond to TechCrunch's or Reuters' requests for comment. The company has put one deal on the record, though. On October 6 it announced an expanded partnership with Atlassian that puts OpenAI models inside Jira, Confluence and Atlassian's Rovo agents.

For background on how OpenAI makes money and spends it, see our OpenAI explainer.

What's been reported

According to Bloomberg's report, as summarized by Reuters, TechCrunch and Quartz:

• Size and price: at least $30 billion at about $1.4 trillion. Quartz describes that figure as pre-money, and Reuters says it doesn't include the money being raised. Talks are early and terms could change. No investors have been named.
• Earlier talks: in mid-September, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported talks at more than $1.2 trillion. Forbes, citing the New York Times' DealBook, reported that investors had offered $1.2 trillion while OpenAI sought up to $1.5 trillion.
• Why now: Bloomberg described the round as a bridge to a later IPO.
• Revenue: the summaries of Bloomberg's report don't agree. TechCrunch and Quartz say annualized revenue passed about $40 billion after growing roughly 70% since July. Reuters says the run rate is "nearing $70 billion", up more than 70% since the start of the third quarter. OpenAI hasn't published a current figure. Its most recent official figure, from its March 31 funding announcement, was $2 billion in revenue a month.

Confirmed vs reported: everything above is reported from anonymous sources. The only figures in this story that OpenAI has itself announced are the March round and its revenue figure (below and above) and the Atlassian deal. OpenAI's newsroom showed no funding announcement as of October 9.

How it compares

OpenAI announced on March 31, 2026 that it had raised $122 billion at an $852 billion post-money valuation. TechCrunch describes that round as meant to be its last private raise before an IPO. Some outlets cite $730 billion for that round, which is the pre-money figure. A $1.4 trillion valuation would be roughly 1.6 times the March number in about six months.

The IPO has moved. Sam Altman told Fortune that OpenAI won't go public in 2026, calling this an "ill-advised" time. He cited safety work and the possibility of decisions that run against shareholders' short-term interests, according to Forbes and TechCrunch. The listing is now expected in 2027.

Anthropic is further along that path. It raised $65 billion at a $965 billion post-money valuation on May 28, 2026, and on June 1 said it had confidentially submitted a draft S-1 to the SEC. That filing gives it the option to list once the SEC review is complete. Anthropic announced no new funding between September 8 and October 8. Its news in that period was enterprise-focused, including Barclays scaling Claude (October 1) and a $100 million programme to train 10,000 engineers (October 2). Our Anthropic explainer has more on its business model.

Why the money matters: compute

OpenAI's spending commitments explain much of the fundraising. It has letters of intent for 10 GW of Nvidia systems, 6 GW of AMD GPUs and 10 GW of custom Broadcom accelerators, all due to start deploying in the second half of 2026, alongside its Stargate sites (our gigawatt tracker). Quartz, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported that CFO Sarah Friar privately warned colleagues that slow revenue growth could make it hard to honor future computing contracts. OpenAI hasn't commented on that report.

The confirmed deal: Atlassian

On October 6, 2026, OpenAI and Atlassian announced an expansion of a partnership that began in 2023. According to OpenAI's post:

• Rovo agents on OpenAI models: OpenAI frontier models, which the post names as GPT-6 Astra and the GPT-5.6 series, will power agents across Atlassian's platform and Rovo. They combine with Atlassian's Teamwork Graph, which links people, projects, Jira tickets, Confluence pages and decisions.
• Atlassian inside ChatGPT and Codex: Atlassian and Teamwork Graph CLI plugins bring Jira work items, Confluence content and people context into ChatGPT and Codex, subject to existing permissions.
• Codex at Atlassian: more than 3,000 Atlassian developers use Codex in terminals, IDEs and code review. Atlassian is also expanding its own use of ChatGPT Enterprise.
• Still exploratory: deeper Jira integrations for assigning work to AI agents, tracking progress and reviewing results are being "explored". They are not launched.

No financial terms, pricing or contract length were disclosed.

Why it matters: Jira and Confluence hold much of the work context that coding and project agents need. Wiring them into ChatGPT and Codex makes OpenAI's agents more useful in companies that already run on Atlassian, and gives OpenAI distribution without asking customers to change tools. It also deepens its competition with Anthropic for enterprise developer seats. For more on the coding tool involved, see our Codex explainer.

One naming note: the Atlassian post refers to the "GPT-5.6 series", but OpenAI's own October 7 posts ("GPT-6 and Intelligent UI for everyone" and "GPT‑6 Sol and GPT‑6 Luna: October 2026 update") are about GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, and its API lists GPT-6.1 Sol as the newest Sol model. Check OpenAI's model pages for the current lineup rather than relying on partner announcements.

What to watch

• Whether OpenAI confirms the round, who leads it, and whether the valuation is pre- or post-money.
• Whether Anthropic moves from its confidential filing to a public S-1.
• When the "explored" Jira agent-assignment features ship, and on what terms.