Glass office tower at dusk with a glowing upward chart line, illustrating OpenAI's $11 billion funding round at a $1.25 trillion valuation

OpenAI Raises $11 Billion at a $1.25 Trillion Valuation — But the Round Is Smaller Than Planned

ByChris Wade

Key takeaway: OpenAI has closed the first $11 billion of its latest funding round at a $1.25 trillion valuation, Bloomberg and Reuters reported on November 6, 2026. The money is real, but so is the comedown: the company first sought $30 billion at up to a $1.5 trillion valuation, and the round may still only reach about $20 billion.

What happened

OpenAI has banked the first $11 billion of its latest funding round, according to reports published on November 6, 2026. Bloomberg first reported the deal, and Reuters confirmed it through its own source familiar with the matter. The financing values the ChatGPT maker at $1.25 trillion.

The $11 billion is the first close of a larger round, not the whole round. Bloomberg reported that the total could reach about $20 billion in the coming weeks, which would leave roughly $9 billion still to raise. OpenAI has not published its own statement about the financing, and it did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Its chief financial officer, Sarah Friar, did discuss the fundraising in a CNBC interview on November 6.

Two investors told Reuters that SoftBank and MGX, Abu Dhabi’s state-backed technology investment fund, took part in the first close. The Financial Times had earlier reported that investors from the United Arab Emirates, including MGX, were expected to be the largest participants in the round.

The round, then and now

First reported (September 2026) Now (November 6, 2026)
Target size $30 billion About $20 billion
Valuation sought $1.4 trillion (Bloomberg); up to $1.5 trillion (Reuters’ sources) $1.25 trillion
Secured so far — $11 billion (first close)
Status Fundraising just starting Round still open; remainder not secured

The cuts came in stages. Bloomberg first reported the $30 billion target at a $1.4 trillion valuation in late September. On October 30, the Financial Times reported that OpenAI had cut the target to about $20 billion and lowered the valuation it sought to $1.25 trillion. The Wall Street Journal reported around the same time that about $11 billion had been secured, describing the response from some large investors as “tepid”.

Why the round shrank

The smaller round landed after a month of cooling sentiment toward AI companies. The Financial Times tied the cut to mounting anxiety in technology stocks, and the Journal’s “tepid” characterisation pointed to some large investors reducing their allocations rather than the company struggling to find any backers at all.

OpenAI is not alone in facing a cooler market. Unite.AI reported that some investors now value Anthropic’s planned initial public offering at about $1.5 trillion, below earlier expectations of roughly $2 trillion. The pattern is the same across the sector: still enormous sums, but at lower prices than the market was willing to pay a few months ago.

What $11 billion buys: compute

The money is almost certainly headed for computing infrastructure. Training and running frontier AI models is the most capital-hungry activity in technology, and OpenAI’s rivals are spending at a similar scale: Anthropic’s amended S-1 filing, reported on November 2, showed roughly $895 billion in purchase and lease commitments, substantially related to compute and infrastructure.

For scale, the reported $1.25 trillion valuation is about 47% above OpenAI’s last closed valuation — $852 billion, set in March 2026, when the company announced $122 billion in committed capital. That March round also included more than $3 billion from individual investors through bank channels, the first time OpenAI had extended participation that way. The Financial Times has reported that a similar retail-style offering for wealthy individuals could help lift the current round toward its $20 billion target.

What it means for ChatGPT users

For ordinary users, the direct effect is small in the short term: no product or pricing change has been announced alongside the financing, and none of the reports tie the round to a specific feature. The practical consequence is longer-term. A fully funded OpenAI can keep buying the computing capacity behind ChatGPT, its new GPT-6 Cyber security model, and the agent features it has been shipping through the autumn. A round that stalls at $11 billion would not stop that spending, but it would tighten the budget for the next generation of models — and the competition is not standing still. Moonshot’s open-weight Kimi K3.1, released the same week, shows how fast rivals can now match frontier capability.

Knowns, unknowns, and what to watch

Known: $11 billion has closed at a $1.25 trillion valuation, with SoftBank and MGX participating, according to Bloomberg and Reuters. The original $30 billion target and the higher valuation the company first sought are documented in reporting from September and October.

Unknown: whether the remaining roughly $9 billion closes, on what terms, and who else joins. The reports do not disclose share prices, individual stakes, or how the money will be allocated. OpenAI has confirmed nothing itself beyond its CFO’s CNBC appearance.

What to watch: the first close of the remaining tranche in the coming weeks, any filing or statement ahead of OpenAI’s planned IPO, and whether Anthropic’s IPO pricing confirms the same valuation reset across the sector.

Analysis: the headline number is not the story

Analysis — this section is our reading of the reporting, not a reported fact. The $11 billion figure will dominate headlines, and it is genuinely large: few private companies have ever raised that much in a single close. But the more informative number is the one that shrank. A company that could once name its price — $30 billion at $1.5 trillion — is now accepting $20 billion at $1.25 trillion, and investors still hesitated. That is not a crisis; OpenAI remains the most valuable private AI company in the world by a wide margin. It is a repricing, and repricings are how markets tell even the strongest companies that the easy-money phase of the AI boom is over. The test now is whether the rest of the round closes at this price — and whether the models the money buys justify it.

Frequently asked questions

How much has OpenAI raised in its latest funding round?

About $11 billion has closed so far, according to Bloomberg and Reuters on November 6, 2026. That is the first portion of a round that could reach about $20 billion in total, with the remainder expected to close in the coming weeks.

What is OpenAI’s valuation now?

The reported valuation is $1.25 trillion. That is down from the $1.4 trillion Bloomberg first reported in September, and from the up-to-$1.5 trillion figure two investors told Reuters the company initially sought. OpenAI has not confirmed the valuation itself.

Why did OpenAI cut its funding target from $30 billion to $20 billion?

The Financial Times reported on October 30 that the target was cut amid cooling sentiment toward AI and technology stocks, and the Wall Street Journal described the response from some large investors as “tepid”, with some reducing their allocations.

Who invested in OpenAI’s new round?

Two investors told Reuters that SoftBank and MGX, Abu Dhabi’s state-backed technology fund, participated in the first close. The Financial Times has reported that UAE investors, including MGX, were expected to be the largest participants, with firms such as Founders Fund, Coatue, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz also reported as expected participants.

Has OpenAI confirmed the $11 billion funding?

Not in its own statement. The figures come from Bloomberg and Reuters reporting that cites sources familiar with the transaction. OpenAI’s CFO, Sarah Friar, discussed the fundraising in a CNBC interview on November 6, 2026, but the company has not published an announcement confirming the round’s terms.

Sources


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