OpenAI Closes $11 Billion at $1.25 Trillion Valuation in First Round Tranche

Quick Facts

• OpenAI closed $11 billion on Friday, Nov. 6, the first tranche of a round that could reach $20 billion total
• The $1.25 trillion valuation is 47% above the $852 billion set in March 2026 but down from the originally targeted $1.4 trillion
• President Greg Brockman said OpenAI could be IPO-ready in 2027; the company filed its prospectus confidentially with the SEC in June

OpenAI has closed the first portion of a new funding round, pulling in $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, according to people familiar with the matter. The funds were wired to the company as of Friday, Nov. 6. The round could grow to as much as $20 billion in the coming weeks.

Coatue Management and T. Rowe Price participated in the first close. SoftBank Group, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, and Abu Dhabi-backed MGX are also part of the broader round. Microsoft, which contributed to OpenAI's last four rounds, is among the possible participants.

The raise is a scaled-back version of OpenAI's original plan. The company initially targeted $30 billion or more at a $1.4 trillion valuation. The final first-close figure represents a $150 billion valuation haircut from that target.

Still, the $1.25 trillion figure places OpenAI ahead of Tesla in market value and within range of Amazon. It is 47% above the $852 billion valuation attached to the company's March 2026 round, which raised $122 billion from Nvidia, Amazon and SoftBank.

CFO Sarah Friar spoke about the round Thursday at the Citi TMT Leadership Summit in Pebble Beach, California. She said the company raised after its business grew 70% quarter over quarter in Q3 2026, with enterprise demand doubling over the same period. "A good CFO always raises money when she can," Friar said, adding that the round is still ongoing.

Friar also addressed political headwinds around data center construction. Voters sided with limits on data centers in 40 of 41 local ballot questions across 10 states. OpenAI chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane said some projects could face delays as data center development becomes more politically contested. Friar told CNBC the company would continue pushing into new communities regardless. "The demand for AI is real," she said. "I don't think anyone's arguing with that."

OpenAI is also pulling back on its infrastructure ambitions. The company is telling investors it now targets around $600 billion in total compute spend, less than half its original $1.4 trillion commitment.

The company's financials show the scale of its cash needs. OpenAI posted a $12.3 billion operating loss in Q2 2026 on $6.7 billion in revenue, according to figures reported by The Wall Street Journal. Its annualized revenue run rate jumped 70% in Q3. Brockman said more than half of OpenAI's revenue now comes from enterprise customers.

An IPO is on the table for next year. OpenAI filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission confidentially in June. Brockman, speaking at the WSJ Tech Conference in Napa on Nov. 4, said the company would "list when the time is right" and that it has "never been more confident" in its business. When asked directly whether the company would be IPO-ready in 2027, he said, "I think so."

Investors eyeing the IPO are discussing a valuation range of $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, below the earlier $1.5 trillion expectation. That cooling reflects broader sentiment shifts across the AI sector. Rival Anthropic, also preparing for a public offering, is now being valued by prospective buyers at roughly $1.1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, down from earlier figures as high as $2 trillion.

OpenAI is also working with investment banks to raise capital from high-net-worth individuals and retail investors as part of the ongoing round. The company expects to close the remaining portion within weeks.