Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Sam Altman says OpenAI’s IPO window has been pushed to 2027—but markets aren’t the culprit

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

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

Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

VENTURE CAPITAL

- Positron AI, a Reno, Nev.-based developer of AI inference hardware and software, raised $875 million in Series C funding. NEA, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, 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, Wellington Management, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and Tiger Global 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 Lightspeed Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Mohari Ventures, Human Capital, Qumra Capital, Avigdor Willenz, Viola Growth, and Poalim Equity.

- Nara Health, a Brisbane, Australia-based provider of health benefits administration software, raised $14 million across a seed and pre-seed round led by Khosla Ventures and joined by Long Journey Ventures, Superior Studios, and angel investors.

- Synapse Analytics, 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 Algebra Ventures and Silicon Badia.

- Shennon Biotechnologies, a San Francisco-based developer of cancer immunotherapies, raised $12 million in funding from Future Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, Samos Investments, 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 Storm Ventures and $2 million in pre-seed funding led by Menlo Ventures.

PRIVATE EQUITY

- Allyant, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired Braille Works, a Seffner, Fla.-based provider of accessible communications services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- New Mountain Capital 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 Grovecourt Capital Partners, acquired WBQ Design & Engineering, an Orlando, Fla.-based provider of transportation engineering services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

IPOs

- Electra Therapeutics, 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, Westlake BioPartners, Redmile Biopharma, Aventis, LSP 7 Coöperatief, and New Leaf Ventures back the company.

- Bamboo Insurance Services, 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 White Mountains back the company.