OpenAI isn't necessarily delaying its IPO because the public market isn't ready for it. It might be delaying because private investors keep throwing money at it at ever-higher valuations.

That's the take from Willy Lee, a principal at SuRo Capital Corp. (SuRo Capital (SSSS)), a publicly traded venture capital firm that owns stakes in OpenAI, Canva, Whoop, and Lime. Lee argues that OpenAI has little reason to rush into an IPO when private investors are willing to pay more and more for a piece of the company.

“I think the valuation is much higher than that,” Lee said in a prepared statement, referring to OpenAI's last funding-round valuation.

The Employee Tender Offer as a Valuation Signal

According to Lee, the best clue to OpenAI's current worth might not come from an IPO filing but from its ongoing employee tender offer. That's when employees get to sell some of their shares back to the company or to outside investors.

“OpenAI is actually testing that right now with their employee tender, and I'm not sure if all the employees at OpenAI want to sell shares at last round valuation,” Lee said.

If private investors are willing to pay a premium in the tender, it would confirm that OpenAI's valuation has climbed since its last funding round. That would reduce the urgency to go public. Waiting until 2027 could let the company command an even bigger valuation when it eventually lists.

Private AI Companies Are Growing Faster Than Public Markets Realize

Lee also argued that public market investors haven't fully grasped how quickly leading private AI companies are growing.

“In the private markets, we are seeing massive revenue increases year over year for some of these companies,” he said.

He pointed to cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave, Inc. (CoreWeave (CRWV)) as an example. When SuRo invested in 2024, CoreWeave had remaining performance obligations of roughly $15 billion. Today, Lee says companies are signing individual AI infrastructure deals of comparable size, highlighting the pace of enterprise AI spending.

“Meanwhile, we're seeing massive valuation increases because we have that line of sight and people in the public markets haven't had that opportunity yet,” Lee said.

For Lee, the reported IPO delay shouldn't be seen as a warning sign. Instead, it reflects the strength of the private AI market, where surging revenue growth and rising valuations give companies like OpenAI flexibility over when—and at what valuation—they eventually choose to go public.