OpenAI Raises $11 Billion in First Tranche at $1.25 Trillion Valuation

By Fatima Raza | Technology | Updated: 9 November 2026

OpenAI has reportedly raised $11 billion in the first part of a new funding round that values the ChatGPT maker at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg reported on Friday, 6 November 2026. Investors wired the money the same day, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg, but the round itself has not closed yet. It could still grow to about $20 billion in the coming weeks.

That is the short version. The longer version matters more, because this is not the round OpenAI set out to raise. The company began the autumn chasing $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion. It is now, by the reporting, settling for less money at a lower price, in a week when AI stocks were selling off hard.

OpenAI funding round: the key facts

What exactly has OpenAI raised?

The cleanest way to say it is this: $11 billion has reportedly landed, and up to $9 billion more may follow. Bloomberg’s reporting, carried the same evening by Reuters and TechCrunch, describes the $11 billion as the initial portion of a larger round. A source told Bloomberg the round is expected to close in the coming weeks and could total about $20 billion.

That framing is important. A first close is not a finished round. Until the rest of the money is committed and wired, the final size of the round can still move. The Wall Street Journal had already reported days earlier, on 30 October, that OpenAI had secured roughly $11 billion in commitments after what it described as a lukewarm response from some large investors. Friday’s reporting suggests those commitments have now turned into cash in the bank.

What has not happened is an official announcement. OpenAI has not published a statement confirming the $11 billion or the $1.25 trillion valuation, and the company declined to comment on the reports. Everything in this story, including the headline numbers, rests on sourced reporting rather than a company release. That does not make it unreliable, but it does mean the numbers should be read as reported, not as audited fact.

Why the round shrank from $30 billion

OpenAI’s original ambition, reported by Bloomberg in late September, was to raise at least $30 billion at a valuation of about $1.4 trillion. By the end of October, the Financial Times reported the target had been cut by $10 billion to about $20 billion. CNBC confirmed the revised $20 billion goal on 31 October, citing a person directly familiar with the deal.

Two things changed in between. First, some large investors scaled back their commitments. The Journal’s reporting pointed to tepid interest from parts of the investor base, and the FT reported that some backers wanted to see how rival Anthropic’s upcoming listing was priced before committing to OpenAI at the higher valuation. Second, the market turned. AI-linked stocks sold off sharply in the days after the US midterm elections, and the Nasdaq 100 fell 6.4% on Thursday, wiping out about $2.3 trillion in market value in a single session, the largest one-day dollar decline on record for the index.

That is the backdrop against which a $1.25 trillion valuation has to be judged. It is $150 billion below the $1.4 trillion OpenAI was asking for a few weeks ago. It is also about 47% above the $852 billion valuation of the company’s previous round, announced on 31 March 2026, when OpenAI said it had closed $122 billion in committed capital. In seven months, the company’s reported value has risen by nearly half, even as the market for AI stocks cooled. The fundraising got smaller. The valuation did not collapse. Both facts describe the same week.

What is the money for?

OpenAI has not said publicly what this tranche is earmarked for, and none of the reporting so far attaches a specific use of proceeds to the $11 billion. What is on the record is the direction of travel. In a CNBC interview on Friday, OpenAI chief financial officer Sarah Friar said the company would continue investing in data centres and raising capital.

That fits everything else we know about where the money in AI goes now. Training and running frontier models needs enormous computing capacity, and capacity means data centres, chips and power. The sums involved explain why OpenAI keeps returning to the market: the March round alone was $122 billion in committed capital, and this round, even scaled back, is aimed at $20 billion. These are infrastructure-scale numbers, not the kind of money a software company raises to hire a few hundred engineers.

No source has published a breakdown of how the $11 billion will be spent, which data centre projects it funds, or on what timetable. Anyone claiming a precise split is guessing.

The Anthropic comparison

The timing of this funding news is not an accident of the calendar. It landed on the same day Bloomberg reported that prospective buyers in Anthropic’s planned IPO are now discussing a valuation of $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, down from the $1.4 trillion to $1.5 trillion investors had earlier communicated to the banks working on the deal, and down from talk of as much as $2 trillion in early October.

The Wall Street Journal reported separately that three major investors think Anthropic’s price needs to come down from about $1.5 trillion, with one suggesting it could land closer to $1 trillion. No final valuation has been set, no price range has appeared in Anthropic’s filings, and the company declined to comment. But the direction is unmistakable, and it is the same direction as OpenAI’s: the market is repricing AI companies lower than the numbers being discussed a month ago.

Put the two together and the picture is striking. OpenAI, the private company, is now reportedly valued at $1.25 trillion. Anthropic, the company about to test the public market, is being discussed at $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion. The two great rivals of the AI boom have, for the moment, converged on roughly the same price, and the market is no longer willing to pay whatever number is put in front of it.

What it means for ChatGPT users

For the hundreds of millions of people who use ChatGPT, the honest answer is that nothing changes on Monday morning. A funding round does not add features, change prices or alter what the product can do. What it does is buy OpenAI room to keep building. More capital means more computing capacity, and more capacity is what sits behind faster responses, new models and bigger launches.

That is also why this story connects to what OpenAI is building next. The company has been moving quickly on new model releases, and recent reporting has pointed to a new GPT generation on the way. Readers who want the detail on what has leaked so far can read our earlier report on the GPT-6.2 Astra leak and its reported release date, which is a separate story from this funding round and should not be confused with it.

The more interesting question is whether the funding changes the competitive balance. OpenAI’s reported valuation is now roughly 47% higher than it was in March, and the company has fresh cash at a moment when its closest rival is having to cut its asking price to get its IPO away. That is a strong position. The caution is that the position was bought in a falling market, with a smaller round than planned, and the rest of the $20 billion still has to be raised. Strength and vulnerability are both in the numbers.

There is also a wider lesson here for anyone watching AI from Pakistan. The country has set itself an ambitious target of preparing one million AI professionals by 2030, and the global repricing of AI companies is part of the landscape those professionals will enter: huge opportunity, but no longer the unquestioning optimism of a year ago. ChatGPT’s own rise continues too: our earlier reporting covered ChatGPT becoming the world’s second-largest search engine.

What is still unconfirmed

A story like this leaves several questions open, and they are worth stating plainly rather than papering over.

First, the final size of the round. Bloomberg’s source put the possible total at about $20 billion, but the round has not closed and the number could still change. Second, the full investor list. Reuters, citing two investors, reported that SoftBank and MGX participated, and the Financial Times has reported that investors from the United Arab Emirates are leading the round, but Bloomberg’s own report on Friday did not name investors, and no complete list has been published. Third, whether the $1.25 trillion figure is a pre-money or post-money valuation. The reporting reviewed for this article does not specify, and the distinction matters, because it changes what the new investors actually own. Fourth, the use of proceeds, which OpenAI has not detailed. And fifth, the closing date, which has only been described as “in the coming weeks”.

All five will be answered when the round closes or when OpenAI says something publicly. Until then, the $11 billion and the $1.25 trillion are the best-reported figures available, carried by Bloomberg and relayed by Reuters, TechCrunch and others within hours. That is a solid basis for reporting. It is not the same as an official confirmation, and this article does not present it as one.

Latest: First $11 Billion Closes at $1.25 Trillion Valuation

OpenAI has closed the first $11 billion of its new funding round at a $1.25 trillion valuation, with the money wired by investors by Friday, 6 November 2026, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. Chief financial officer Sarah Friar confirmed the $1.25 trillion valuation on television.

Participants in the first close include SoftBank, Abu Dhabi’s MGX, Coatue Management and T. Rowe Price. The round could total about $20 billion and is expected to close in the coming weeks. OpenAI originally sought $30 billion or more at a $1.4-1.5 trillion valuation before cutting the target amid an AI-stock sell-off. In March 2026, OpenAI closed a $122 billion round at an $852 billion valuation.

FAQs