OpenAI reportedly valued at $1.25 trillion, below the $1.4 trillion it wanted

OpenAI is now valued at $1.25 trillion after a new funding round that has raised another $11 billion, according to Bloomberg, as summarized by The Verge. These figures come from press reports, not from an OpenAI announcement we have read, so they remain reported rather than confirmed.

A smaller raise than OpenAI first wanted

The Verge, citing Bloomberg, says OpenAI is still pursuing more investment that could lift the total to $20 billion. It had initially hoped to raise as much as $30 billion at a valuation of $1.4 trillion. According to that report, the target slipped after tech stocks fell and the midterm election results showed how far public opinion has turned against AI companies and data center projects.

The new valuation follows the $122 billion OpenAI raised from investors in March at $852 billion, per The Verge. The summary does not say who invested in the new round or how the $11 billion is structured.

The valuation in the shadow of two IPOs

The round lands as Anthropic, OpenAI’s main rival, has filed its S-1 to go public, The Verge reports. OpenAI has taken a different path so far. CEO Sam Altman said earlier this year that the company is holding off on an IPO until it can make more confident claims about the safety of its models. He gave no timeline, but said it would be bad for the world if OpenAI waited too long to go public, as quoted by The Verge.

Other reports this week fill in the picture. TechCrunch reported on November 5 that OpenAI president Greg Brockman said the company could be ready to IPO in 2027, and Reuters reported him saying most of its sales now come from enterprises. The Wall Street Journal, per Techmeme, reported that major investors are growing skeptical about the valuation Anthropic can achieve in its listing after the market selloff.

What the numbers say about investor appetite

Set side by side, the figures show demand that is still large but cooler than planned. A $1.25 trillion valuation is well above the $852 billion of March. Yet the reported shortfall against the $30 billion and $1.4 trillion ambitions suggests investors are pricing in the same market jitters now hitting Anthropic’s listing plans. The public-opinion backlash against data centers is also part of the story: OpenAI was reported to be weighing a new name for its data centers after the midterms.

What remains unknown is whether the $11 billion is final and whether the $1.25 trillion figure includes the new money. Readers should treat it as a snapshot of reported talks, with OpenAI’s own confirmation still to come. For background on the two companies’ products, see our Claude vs ChatGPT comparison.