OpenAI Eyes 2027 IPO as Enterprise Revenue Surges
OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman said the company expects to be ready for an initial public offering (IPO) in 2027, citing strong enterprise revenue growth. Speaking at a Wall Street Journal tech conference on Wednesday, Brockman highlighted the company's expanding footprint in the enterprise market β a segment where rival Anthropic had already established a strong presence.
When asked whether OpenAI would be IPO-ready next year, Brockman replied, "I think so. Yes."
"We've been very clear this year that we want to go public when we feel is the right time for us, and I feel extremely good about the business," Brockman said. "I feel like we've made so much progress this year, and I've honestly never felt more confident in what we're doing."
A Turning Point in 2026
Brockman detailed how OpenAI's enterprise trajectory shifted over the course of 2026, acknowledging that the first and second quarters were "pretty rough." He admitted that OpenAI "wasn't even in the conversation" when it came to agentic coding β an area where Anthropic's Claude Code has gained market share.
"We had Codex, but no one was talking about it," Brockman continued. "And I think that we just kept our heads down and executed."
Q3 Growth and Enterprise Momentum
By the third quarter, momentum picked up significantly. OpenAI saw 70% quarterly growth in its annualized revenue β growth Brockman attributed to the enterprise side of the business doubling. He explained that the surge wasn't simply the result of something that happened in the quarter itself, but rather the culmination of investments the company had been making up to that point.
Today, the majority of OpenAI's revenue comes from its enterprise business, which previously accounted for only around 30% of total revenue.
"And it's not that consumer [revenue has shrunk] β¦ It's been growing, but the enterprise segment has really taken off," he said, pointing to a recent partnership with J.P. Morgan Chase as an example of the type of client it's now winning deals with.
Lessons from the Enterprise Market
Brockman also spoke more broadly about the lessons OpenAI learned from selling into the enterprise market. He said the company had come to understand that its job was to help businesses identify the most important milestones they could achieve with its AI technology, build trust with clients, and demonstrate that it was a reliable partner for the long haul.
"A year ago, we weren't even really in the enterprise game, right? We were really perceived as a consumer company, and a lot of the companies we'd start talking to would say, 'Is OpenAI really committed to the enterprise?'" Brockman said. "But it's so different today."
via TechCrunch AI