OpenAI Raises $15 Billion at $1.25 Trillion Valuation, Half Its Original Target

OpenAI has closed a $15 billion funding round at a $1.25 trillion pre‑money valuation, CNBC reported on November 12, citing sources familiar with the deal. The final amount is roughly half the $30 billion OpenAI originally targeted at a $1.4 trillion valuation before pulling back.

The round closed in stages: approximately $11 billion reached OpenAI's accounts by November 6 in a first close, with the remaining $4 billion added in subsequent days. SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's MGX were reported as participants, though OpenAI did not disclose lead investors, MLQ.ai reported.

CFO Sarah Friar described the $1.25 trillion as a pre‑money figure, putting it almost 50% above the March 2026 price when OpenAI raised $122 billion in committed capital at an $852 billion post‑money valuation, anchored by Amazon, Nvidia, SoftBank, and Microsoft.

The raise comes as OpenAI's financials reveal a company growing fast but burning faster. Third‑quarter 2026 revenue rose approximately 50% quarter‑over‑quarter to roughly $10 billion, while the operating loss widened to $10.9 billion, according to CNBC via MLQ.ai. The widening gap between revenue growth and operational spending drives the need for continuous fundraising.

OpenAI is expected to go public in 2027, though it is unclear whether it will raise additional capital before then. The $15 billion round keeps OpenAI capitalized as Anthropic's IPO — expected to price November 18 at a valuation potentially reaching $1.5 trillion — resets the competitive landscape for AI funding.

OpenAI's pullback from $30 billion to $15 billion reflects a cooling of AI fundraising after a frenetic 2025 and early 2026. The broader AI stock sell‑off — the Nasdaq fell 5.5% last week with nearly $2.5 trillion erased in a single session — has made investors more selective, Fortune reported. Even Anthropic's IPO, the most anticipated AI listing, priced below earlier projections of $2 trillion.

The reduced raise also coincides with the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on November 12 — the same day OpenAI's round was reported. Nvidia had committed at least $30 billion to OpenAI's March round, and the leadership turmoil at the AI chip giant adds uncertainty to the ecosystem's capital flows.

OpenAI's private raise and Anthropic's public offering present two different paths to AI dominance. Anthropic is selling 825 million shares at $70 to $78, aiming for up to $64.4 billion from public markets — more than four times what OpenAI raised privately. Anthropic's roadshow is already six times oversubscribed, Reuters reported.

Both companies are spending at a pace that makes even their massive raises look modest. Anthropic's amended S‑1 revealed an $895 billion compute and infrastructure commitment, while OpenAI's spending outruns its revenue by roughly a billion dollars per quarter. The AI funding race is as much about who can sustain losses longer as it is about who builds the better model.

For developers and builders using AI tools, the funding dynamics signal continued infrastructure investment — and continued pricing pressure. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are burning billions on compute, and that cost eventually flows downstream to API pricing and subscription fees.

OpenAI's push into agentic commerce with ChatGPT Wallet and Dots agents, combined with Anthropic's enterprise‑focused Claude strategy, means builders face an increasingly bifurcated ecosystem: OpenAI betting on consumer AI agents that spend money on your behalf, Anthropic betting on coding tools and enterprise workflows. The $15 billion raise ensures OpenAI has the runway to pursue both paths simultaneously.