OpenAI banks first $11 billion of new round at $1.25 trillion valuation

OpenAI has banked the first $11 billion of its new funding round at a valuation of $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg reported on November 6, citing people familiar with the matter. The round is not closed: the same report says OpenAI is still talking to investors and could take the total to roughly $20 billion. OpenAI did not respond when TechCrunch asked for comment. Both figures land below where this round started — the company had reportedly been chasing $30 billion at $1.4 trillion when the fundraise surfaced in late September.

Key points

• $11 billion of the new round has landed at a $1.25 trillion valuation, per Bloomberg’s November 6 report citing anonymous sources; OpenAI has not confirmed it.
• The round stays open toward roughly $20 billion in total (Bloomberg, via TechCrunch). The reported target in late September was $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation.
• In the same week, Bloomberg reported that Anthropic’s IPO buyers may value the company as low as $1.1 trillion; the roughly $2 trillion expected about a month earlier is a CNBC figure, as TechCrunch notes.

Background

The pace of OpenAI’s fundraising kept climbing this year before it didn’t. The Verge recalls that the company closed a $122 billion round in March at an $852 billion valuation; by late September, reports had it seeking a bigger deal — $30 billion at $1.4 trillion. The first public sign of a haircut came on October 31, when the Wall Street Journal reported the round had raised less than half of that $30 billion target. The market around it cooled at the same time. We covered the post-midterms AI selloff on Friday: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell roughly 12% on November 5 and the Nasdaq slipped into correction territory. On the demand side, Ramp’s card data showed business AI token spending growth collapsing from 42% in July to 1.5% — the Financial Times had already cut OpenAI’s expected valuation to $1.25 trillion by then. Politics tightened too: OpenAI published its National Community Compact on November 5, promising to pay data center power costs, and this funding lands in the same pressure window.

The facts

The checkable numbers of this round (all sourced to reported figures; OpenAI has not confirmed them):

Item	Figure	Source
First tranche banked	$11 billion	Bloomberg, November 6
Valuation	$1.25 trillion	Bloomberg, November 6
Expected round total	~$20 billion, round still open	Bloomberg, via TechCrunch
Late-September target	$30 billion at $1.4 trillion	TechCrunch, citing reports
Previous round (March)	$122 billion at $852 billion	The Verge
Q3 results	Briefing to investors next week	Bloomberg report

A few boundaries around those numbers. No investor has been named — neither The Verge nor TechCrunch identifies who wrote the checks. Bloomberg’s headline says OpenAI “completes” the $11 billion portion, while TechCrunch describes the overall round as expected to close “in the coming weeks”; the two sentences describe different parts of the same deal, with the first tranche done and the rest still being negotiated. Do the arithmetic on the shortfall and the valuation slid about 10.7% from $1.4 trillion, while the $11 billion banked so far is under 40% of the original $30 billion target.

What others say

Bloomberg’s sourcing is anonymous “people familiar with the matter,” which is why every figure here carries a “reportedly.” TechCrunch runs the two Bloomberg stories side by side: hours earlier, the same outlet reported that Anthropic’s IPO buyers may value the company as low as $1.1 trillion — down from the roughly $2 trillion expected about a month earlier, a figure TechCrunch credits to CNBC. Reading the pair as one event — a private-market ask discounted while public-market buyers trim theirs — is our reading, not The Verge’s; The Verge’s added fact on this thread is a single sentence: OpenAI’s rival Anthropic filed its S-1 to go public last week. On timing, TechCrunch passes along Reuters’ reporting that OpenAI delayed going public this year and that the market expects a 2027 IPO, attributed to president Greg Brockman. Sam Altman’s earlier public stance is worth holding next to this: he has said OpenAI would not go “guns blazing” toward an IPO and wants its model-safety claims solid first — while conceding, per The Verge, “I think it’s also kind of bad for the world if OpenAI waits too long to go public.”

Our take

Our read: the real information in this round is the repricing, not the $11 billion. For developers and procurement teams that depend on OpenAI’s supply, money in the bank means compute commitments and the roadmap stay funded in the short term — there is nothing to panic about on availability. But $1.25 trillion is a number negotiated in a private room, not a market price, and it should not be treated as the valuation coordinate for the whole industry. Two hard datapoints will test it: Anthropic’s eventual IPO pricing gives AI assets their first public-market anchor, and the Q3 results OpenAI is due to brief investors on next week will show whether $1.25 trillion holds. The honest catch: every key figure here comes from unnamed sources, OpenAI has not confirmed them, and the round is open, so the final numbers can move. Reading a valuation haircut as the bubble bursting also runs ahead of the evidence — $122 billion in March and $11 billion now say money is still arriving, just no longer at September’s asking price.

What to watch

• Next week: OpenAI’s Q3 briefing to investors (per Bloomberg). Acceleration matters more than the absolute number — the yardstick question is the one SaaStr set for Anthropic’s run-rate.
• Coming weeks: the round closes. Does the total reach the reported $20 billion?
• Soon after: Anthropic’s IPO pricing range lands, against the $1.1 trillion low expectation.
• 2027: the IPO window the market expects for OpenAI (Reuters, citing Brockman).