OpenAI has secured $11 billion in new funding, the first portion of a larger round that values the company at $1.25 trillion, according to reports published on Friday. The money was wired by the end of the week, but the round itself has not closed, and the final total could still change. The figure is well below the up to $30 billion OpenAI set out to raise in September, making the first close both a show of investor confidence and a measure of how far the market for AI companies has cooled.
A smaller round than planned
Bloomberg reported on Friday that investors had wired the $11 billion to OpenAI, citing people familiar with the matter. The round is expected to close in the coming weeks and could total about $20 billion, a source told the outlet. Reuters confirmed the same figures through its own source, reporting that SoftBank and MGX took part in the funding.
The climb-down is the story. In late September, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was looking to raise $30 billion. Reuters reported the company had sought a valuation of about $1.5 trillion; Bloomberg's September figure was closer to $1.4 trillion. At $1.25 trillion, the price on the money raised sits about a sixth below the $1.5 trillion Reuters reported the company sought.
OpenAI has not confirmed the close publicly, and it did not respond to TechCrunch's request for comment. The reports do not say whether the $1.25 trillion is a pre-money or post-money valuation, so the headline number carries that uncertainty. What is settled is that $11 billion has moved, and the rest of the round is still to be won.
Who is in, and what is still open
The investors named so far are SoftBank and MGX, the Abu Dhabi state-backed investment vehicle, according to two investors who spoke to Reuters. The reports did not name the other participants in the first close, and none of the firms involved has confirmed the terms publicly.
The remaining roughly $9 billion, if the round reaches its revised target of about $20 billion, is expected to close in the coming weeks. Until it does, the $11 billion is a first close inside an unfinished round, not a finished raise — and the final valuation could still move with it.
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The wired money matters more than the headline valuation. A first close turns a target into committed cash: until Friday, the $20 billion figure was an ambition reported by others, not money in the account. That OpenAI could still collect $11 billion while AI stocks were selling off says demand has not dried up — it has repriced.
The parallel with Anthropic is hard to miss. The same week, prospective buyers of Anthropic's shares were said to be eyeing a valuation as low as $1.1 trillion, against roughly $2 trillion discussed a month earlier. Both labs are being priced by the same cooler market, and both are learning that the last round's price is not the next one's.
What the $11 billion does not show is whether the full round will clear at the same price. The remaining money, the final terms and the full investor list are all still undisclosed, and OpenAI's own silence leaves the reports doing the talking.
The test now is the next close. If the remaining $9 billion arrives at $1.25 trillion, the repricing holds; if it does not, the first close will look like the high-water mark of this round rather than its floor for OpenAI.
Why It Matters
For OpenAI, the money funds the most expensive part of its business: the computing power behind ChatGPT and its models. The company has been raising after delaying its plans to go public this year, and the cash buys time while the listing waits. A smaller round at a lower price still leaves it $11 billion richer than on Thursday.
For the industry, the close is a pricing event. Anthropic's IPO is being repriced lower in the same sell-off, and OpenAI's first close sets a fresh mark for what the biggest private AI company is worth. Rivals raising now will be measured against $1.25 trillion — and against the $30 billion OpenAI could not raise.
Background
OpenAI last announced a funding round on 31 March 2026, closing $122 billion in committed capital at a post-money valuation of $852 billion. The $1.25 trillion figure attached to the new money is about 47 percent higher than that mark — a step up, but a smaller one than the company sought when it opened the round in September.
Source: TechCrunch's report and the Reuters report, as carried by CNBC TV18
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