OpenAI has $11 billion in the bank at a $1.25 trillion valuation. Bloomberg reported the deal on Friday, and Reuters confirmed the figures from its own source. Investors wired the money on November 6, according to Bloomberg’s sources, and the first close covers just over half of a round that could reach about $20 billion in the coming weeks.
It is a huge number by any measure. It is also a good deal smaller than the round OpenAI set out to raise.
Five weeks ago, the company was asking for $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation. Two investors told Reuters it had initially sought as much as $1.5 trillion. Now it has settled for $20 billion at $1.25 trillion, with the first $11 billion barely past half of that. Valuation held through the cuts. The size of the check did not.
The round that shrank
The timeline tells the story in four steps. Bloomberg first reported the round in late September: $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation. By October 22, the same $30 billion was being discussed at a lower $1.25 trillion price. On October 30, the Financial Times reported the target itself had been cut to $20 billion. Then came Friday: about $11 billion closed, at the same $1.25 trillion price, with roughly $9 billion still to raise.
That is not how the hottest company in tech is supposed to raise money. OpenAI was never short of suitors. What changed was the price investors were willing to pay, and how much of it they wanted to commit at once.
The timing didn’t help. Technology stocks slid hard in the final days of October and the first days of November, and the Wall Street Journal reported that institutional buyers were pushing Anthropic to cut its planned IPO valuation too, to about $1.5 trillion to $1.6 trillion from roughly $2 trillion. Two of the biggest AI names in the world are now getting the same message from the same buyers: the price has to come down.
Who’s in, and who isn’t talking
SoftBank and MGX, the Abu Dhabi state-backed fund, took part in the first close, two investors told Reuters. The rest of the backers were not named in Bloomberg’s reporting, and OpenAI itself has said nothing in public about the terms. It did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar addressed the round on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on November 6, confirming that the fundraising is ongoing. That is about as far as the company’s public comments go. No statement on its news site, no blog post, no numbers of its own.
The Information reported that OpenAI is expected to brief investors on its third-quarter results next week, a call that follows the first close. Anyone still deciding whether to join the round will be listening closely.
What a $1.25 trillion OpenAI valuation means
Even at the reduced price, $1.25 trillion is a steep climb from OpenAI’s last round. In March, the company closed a round with $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post-money valuation. The new price is roughly 47% higher in eight months.
Context matters here. A $1.25 trillion valuation is the figure those investors negotiated with the company. No order book or exchange produced it, and nobody outside the round can buy in at that price. What it does show is that private investors still value OpenAI as one of the most valuable companies on the planet, just not quite as valuable as OpenAI thought it was in September.
The $9 billion still outstanding is the number to watch. If the rest of the round fills at the same price in the coming weeks, the story becomes a footnote: a big round that took a little longer to assemble. If it drags, or if the price slips again, the story becomes something else entirely, a sign that even the AI leaders are finding the market’s patience has limits.
Why this matters
OpenAI needs the cash for the same reason every AI company does: compute. Training and running frontier models burns through money at a scale that would have sounded absurd five years ago, and the company’s spending commitments keep growing. The $11 billion buys more of it. It also buys time.
But the haircut carries its own message. For two years, AI funding rounds only went one way: bigger, faster, at higher prices. This one went the other way, in public, with the numbers reported by Bloomberg and Reuters for everyone to see. Investors are still writing enormous checks to the AI leaders. They are just starting to ask what those checks are worth.
That’s not a verdict on OpenAI, or on AI. It’s a reminder that even in the most hyped market in a generation, price is still a negotiation. And right now, the buyers have a little more power than they did in September.
Frequently asked questions
How much has OpenAI raised in this funding round?
OpenAI has closed the first $11 billion of the round at a $1.25 trillion valuation, Bloomberg reported on November 6, with Reuters confirming the figures from its own source. The round has not closed and could reach about $20 billion in the coming weeks.
What is OpenAI’s valuation now?
OpenAI is valued at $1.25 trillion in this round, about 47% above the $852 billion post-money valuation set in March 2026, when it raised $122 billion in committed capital.
Why is the OpenAI funding round smaller than planned?
OpenAI first sought $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation in late September, and two investors told Reuters it initially sought as much as $1.5 trillion. The Financial Times reported on October 30 that the target had been cut to $20 billion, and the first close landed at $11 billion.
Who invested in OpenAI’s latest funding round?
SoftBank and MGX, the Abu Dhabi state-backed fund, took part in the first close, two investors told Reuters. Bloomberg’s sources did not name the full list of backers, and OpenAI has not published its own statement on the round.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, TechCrunch, Financial Times, The Information, SiliconANGLE