OpenAI’s still looking at an IPO—but not in 2026.
On Friday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell that it wasn’t the right time.
“I actually think that, given everything happening with safety, right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public, and we don’t feel pressure on that,” he said in an interview for Shontell’s Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast.
Altman was referencing the outpouring of concern, fear, and chatter that emerged last week, when researcher Jacob Coxon (who’d also worked at OpenAI) resigned from Anthropic, with a very public message: AI’s makers are moving quickly and irresponsibly. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei sounded off over the weekend, and Altman told Shontell that OpenAI’s go-public ambitions are linked to safety. As she wrote on Saturday:
He added that OpenAI will go public when the business is ready and when the company is ready as it relates to “what the moment is like in society with this technology.”
When pressed on whether 2026 is off the table in favor of 2027, Altman replied, “I would say not 2026. Yeah, we got a lot of stuff to do, like meeting this moment of what is going to be required for safety and alignment, and how the industry and governments can work together.”
Altman even suggested that AI’s biggest names, from Amodei to Hassabis, will likely get together to discuss safety at some point.
“I’m not going to pre-announce private discussions that I think should be at some point shared as a group,” he told Shontell. “But, yeah, I think that will happen.”
All sorts of things are probably true here: The safety fears are absolutely a worthwhile conversation, and deeply valid. At the same time, I do wonder if it’s easier to talk about apocalyptic fears of the future than concerns of the present. (I’m far from the first to wonder about this dynamic.) There’s also a lot of money on the table: Investors have poured more than $180 billion into OpenAI over the years, and a much-anticipated exit appears far on the horizon.
Regardless, it’s clear that the existential fears of the AI boom have hit a boiling point. And the conversation only matters so much, of course—the action from here is what will make a difference. And what that action looks like remains unclear.
Watch Fortune’s whole interview with Altman here.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE CAPITAL
– PositronAI, a Reno, Nev.-based developer of AI inference hardware and software, raised $875 million in Series C funding. NEA, AtreidesManagement, ValorEquityPartners, Andra Capital, and others.
– Temporal, a Bellevue, Wash.-based developer of software for building reliable AI applications, raised $550 million in Series E funding. Lightspeed, WellingtonManagement, GrowthEquityatGoldmanSachsAlternatives, and TigerGlobal led the round.
– Cornelis, a Wayne, Pa.-based developer of high-performance networking technology, raised $205 million in funding. IAG Capital Partners led the round.
– Buildots, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of AI software for construction projects, raised $130 million in funding. O.G. Venture Partners led the round and was joined by LightspeedVenture Partners, IntelCapital, MohariVentures, HumanCapital, QumraCapital, AvigdorWillenz, ViolaGrowth, and PoalimEquity.
– Nara Health, a Chicago, Ill.-based third-party administrator reinventing personalized health insurance plans, raised $14 million across a seed and pre-seed round led by KhoslaVentures and joined by LongJourney Ventures, SuperiorStudios, and angel investors.
– SynapseAnalytics, a Cairo, Egypt and Abu Dhabi, UAE.-based developer of AI software for financial institutions, raised $13 million in Series A funding. Partech led the round and was joined by AlgebraVentures and SiliconBadia.
– ShennonBiotechnologies, a San Francisco-based developer of cancer immunotherapies, raised $12 million in funding from FutureVentures, NextGenVenturePartners, SamosInvestments, and others.
– Aron, a San Francisco-based developer of AI software for procurement teams, raised $8 million in funding, including a $6 million seed round led by StormVentures and $2 million in pre-seed funding led by MenloVentures.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– Allyant, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired BrailleWorks, a Seffner, Fla.-based provider of accessible communications services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– NewMountainCapital acquired a minority stake in Appleby, a Hamilton, Bermuda-based provider of offshore legal and corporate services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– TMC, backed by GrovecourtCapitalPartners, acquired WBQ Design & Engineering, an Orlando, Fla.-based provider of transportation engineering services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOs
– ElectraTherapeutics, a South San Francisco-based developer of therapies for immune-mediated diseases and cancer, plans to raise up to $347.2 million in an offering of 21.7 million shares priced between $14 and $16 on the Nasdaq. OrbiMed, WestlakeBioPartners, RedmileBiopharma, Aventis, LSP 7 Coöperatief, and NewLeafVentures back the company.
– Bamboo InsuranceServices, a Midvale, Utah-based underwriter for homeowners’ insurance, plans to raise up to $700 million in an offering of 35 million shares priced between $18 and $20 on the New York Stock Exchange. CVC and WhiteMountains back the company.
PEOPLE
– HunterPointCapital, a New York City-based private equity firm, hired WilliamSonneborn as President and COO. Previously, he was with Generate Capital.