OpenAI's US$852 billion valuation faces investor scrutiny amid strategy shift, FT reports

OpenAI's US$852 billion (HK$6.65 trillion) valuation is under scrutiny from some of its own backers as the company shifts its focus to the enterprise market to fend off competition from Anthropic, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Last month, OpenAI raised US$122 billion in what would likely rank as the largest fundraising round in Silicon Valley history. However, the company has redrawn its product roadmap twice in the past six months in response to competitive threats, first from Google and then from Anthropic.

According to the report, some OpenAI investors said that the changes could leave it vulnerable to Anthropic and a resurgent Google, even as the company prepares for an initial public offering as early as this year.

Some industry watchers have predicted that Anthropic's pace of revenue growth will eclipse that of OpenAI within a couple of months.

"You have ChatGPT, a 1 billion-user business growing 50-100 percent a year, what are you doing talking about enterprise and code?" an early backer of OpenAI told FT. "It's a deeply unfocused company."

OpenAI's Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said that the suggestion that investors are not supportive of the company's strategy defies the facts, FT reported.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, an OpenAI spokesperson said that the company's US$122 billion fundraise was "oversubscribed, completed in record time and backed by a broad set of leading global investors, reflecting strong conviction in both our direction, current business momentum, and long-term value."

Reuters