OpenAI reportedly raises $11 billion more at a $1.25 trillion value

OpenAI has raised $11 billion so far in a new funding round that values the company at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The round has not closed, and a source told Bloomberg it is expected to close in the coming weeks and could reach about $20 billion in total.

This is an update to last week’s report that OpenAI had cut its funding round target to $20 billion. The new detail is a reported amount actually raised. Bloomberg’s $11 billion sits about halfway to that reduced target and well short of the $30 billion OpenAI first sought. OpenAI has not publicly confirmed the figures. TechCrunch said it had asked the company for comment.

What changed since last week’s report

The earlier reporting, from the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, was about the round’s target. The Financial Times reported that OpenAI had lowered the goal by $10 billion to about $20 billion, with the valuation target falling by $150 billion, from $1.4 trillion to $1.25 trillion. A separate report attributed to the Wall Street Journal said OpenAI had lined up only about $11 billion of its original $30 billion goal, and that interest from some large investors was lukewarm.

Bloomberg’s report now puts a number on the money raised. It also gives a timeline for the rest. According to The Verge, Bloomberg’s account echoes the FT and Wall Street Journal reports from the previous week. In that account, OpenAI is still pursuing more investment that could bring the round to $20 billion. Three points are new:

• A reported amount raised: $11 billion, described as raised “so far”.
• A status: the round “hasn’t closed yet,” according to Bloomberg as relayed by TechCrunch.
• A timeline: closing is expected “in the coming weeks,” per a Bloomberg source.

The $11 billion figure matches the amount the Wall Street Journal had reportedly said was lined up. That suggests the commitments did not grow much between the two reports. The sources do not say so directly, though, and none of them breaks down who has put money in.

How the round shrank from $30 billion to about $20 billion

The round’s size and price have both come down in stages. In late September, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was looking to raise $30 billion. The Verge reports that OpenAI had initially hoped to raise as much as $30 billion at a valuation of $1.4 trillion. Around October 22 and 23, posts summarising CNBC and Bloomberg reports described talks for up to $30 billion at $1.25 trillion. That was $150 billion below the $1.4 trillion figure discussed earlier. Bloomberg’s tech podcast also covered OpenAI’s potential fundraising at a $1.25 trillion valuation on October 23.

Item	Figure	Basis
Original round goal	As much as $30 billion	Bloomberg, per The Verge and TechCrunch
Valuation initially hoped for	$1.4 trillion	Bloomberg, per The Verge
Current reported valuation	$1.25 trillion	Bloomberg, per TechCrunch
Raised so far	$11 billion	Bloomberg, per TechCrunch
Possible final size	About $20 billion	A source to Bloomberg
Status	Not closed; expected to close in the coming weeks	Bloomberg, per TechCrunch
Previous round (March)	$122 billion at $852 billion	The Verge

Even after these cuts, the valuation is higher than OpenAI’s last confirmed one. The Verge notes that $1.25 trillion would make OpenAI one of the world’s most valuable companies, not long after it raised $122 billion in March at $852 billion. OpenAI’s own March 31 post described that round as $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion, according to a summary of the announcement. Post-money means the valuation includes the new money raised. One investor-focused post argued that because $1.25 trillion is still above $852 billion, the new round is not a “down round,” meaning a round priced below the previous one.

One technical detail is unsettled. Some October posts summarising CNBC and Bloomberg described the $1.25 trillion figure as a pre-money valuation, meaning before the new money is added. The November 6 coverage from The Verge and TechCrunch does not say whether the figure is pre-money or post-money.

Who is reportedly investing, and on what terms

The November 6 reports do not name the investors behind the $11 billion. Earlier reporting gives the likely shape of the round, and all of it is unconfirmed by OpenAI. Posts summarising CNBC and Bloomberg in late October said the round was being led by Coatue and investors from the United Arab Emirates. One post said Bloomberg reported Coatue was in talks to co-lead. Another summary said OpenAI had also held talks with UAE investment funds and BlackRock.

According to a summary of the Financial Times-era coverage, the round’s structure has two stages:

• A first close expected to come in below $20 billion.
• A later offering that would let wealthy individuals invest at the same $1.25 trillion valuation. One person familiar with the matter said this could bring the total to roughly $20 billion.

That same coverage said OpenAI set a Friday deadline for investors to commit and that some backers chose to scale back their allocations. It also reported that, as part of the deal, OpenAI would gain an option to lease newly built computing capacity in the region. Earlier posts likewise said a UAE compute deal might come with the investment. The sources do not give the size or terms of any such capacity arrangement.

Why investors are pulling back: AI stocks, midterms and data centers

The reports tie the smaller round to a cooler market. The Verge says OpenAI’s original $30 billion hope came before tech stocks dropped. It also came before the midterm results showed how far public opinion has turned against AI companies and data center projects. TechCrunch describes the AI market as being in “a particularly precarious place.” It says the Democratic landslide in the U.S. midterms and strongly negative voter sentiment around data centers have caused jitters, with many expecting regulatory challenges.

Earlier coverage pointed to the stock market as well. A summary of reports said the Nasdaq 100 fell roughly 10% in the three weeks after its October 6 record, with a large one-day drop on October 30. Part of the decline was linked to Alphabet, Meta and Amazon announcing bigger AI spending plans, which led some investors to question whether returns will match costs. A late-October post noted the Nasdaq was down nearly 3% on one Thursday as the talks progressed.

For background on how OpenAI handles local data center politics, see OpenAI drops secrecy deals with local officials for its data centers.

Anthropic’s IPO and OpenAI’s own listing plans

The round is competing for attention with OpenAI’s main rival. Anthropic filed its S-1, the registration document a U.S. company files to go public, the week before Bloomberg’s report. A summary of reports gives the filing date as October 26 and says Anthropic plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. The same summary says the filing showed first-half 2026 revenue of about $16.3 billion.

Expectations for Anthropic’s valuation vary by report. Hours before the OpenAI news, Bloomberg reported that some potential buyers of Anthropic shares think its valuation could be as low as $1.1 trillion. That compares with the $2 trillion investors were said to expect roughly a month earlier. Other coverage said Anthropic had been reported to target at least $1.5 trillion. The sources do not reconcile these figures. The Financial Times reported that some investors were waiting to see how Anthropic’s IPO is priced before committing to OpenAI.

OpenAI’s own listing timeline remains open. TechCrunch reports that OpenAI previously hinted it would go public this year but delayed its plans, and that it is expected to list at some point next year. Coverage of the funding talks placed the planned IPO in 2027, and said the company had pitched this round as a final chance to invest before the listing. CEO Sam Altman said earlier this year that OpenAI is holding off on an IPO until it can make more confident claims about its models’ safety. He gave no specific timeline. He also said at the time:

“I think it’s also kind of bad for the world if OpenAI waits too long to go public.”

That quote is reported by The Verge.

What it means for builders

None of the sources links this round to changes in OpenAI’s products, models, API access or pricing. For developers on OpenAI’s platform, nothing in the reporting changes how things work today.

The news still matters for anyone weighing how much to depend on a single model provider, for three reasons the sources support:

• Compute is part of the deal. The reported option to lease new computing capacity in the UAE shows that funding and data center capacity are being negotiated together. Capacity affects how much a provider can serve.
• The supply chain is tightly connected. A summary of reports notes Oracle signed a contract worth about $300 billion with OpenAI while carrying roughly $132 billion in net debt. It also notes CoreWeave has about $46 billion in net debt and Nvidia holds a stake of about $30 billion in OpenAI. A weaker round makes people nervous about the suppliers and lenders tied to OpenAI, according to that coverage.
• Regulation risk is rising. TechCrunch reports that many in the market expect regulatory challenges after the midterms, especially around data centers. Rules affecting where data centers can be built could shape capacity across the industry.

The main limit of this story is its evidence. Every number comes from reporting based on unnamed sources. Earlier coverage found no official OpenAI statement confirming the $20 billion target, the $1.25 trillion valuation or the $11 billion total. Final figures may differ.

What to watch next

• Whether the round closes, and at what size. Bloomberg’s source points to a close in the coming weeks and a total of about $20 billion. A close well below that would extend the pattern of reduced targets.
• An official OpenAI announcement. OpenAI announced its March round on its own website. A similar post would confirm the valuation, the amount and whether the figure is pre-money or post-money.
• The investor list. Whether Coatue, UAE funds or BlackRock appear as reported in October, and whether the wealthy-individual tranche goes ahead.
• Anthropic’s IPO pricing. Where Anthropic prices, given reported expectations from $1.1 trillion to $2 trillion, could shape how investors value OpenAI ahead of its own expected listing.
• Data center politics after the midterms. TechCrunch flags expected regulatory challenges. Any new rules would bear on the compute these funding rounds are meant to pay for.