OpenAI raises $15 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation

By Sophie Lindqvist

OpenAI raised $15 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation, according to sources who spoke to CNBC's David Faber on Thursday, Nov. 12. The company has not announced the round, leaving its amount, valuation and investor list dependent on unnamed sources.

CNBC's report characterized the result as “about half its original target.” OpenAI had planned to raise up to $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation before pulling back. The completed amount therefore landed $15 billion below its fundraising ceiling and $150 billion below its targeted valuation.

What did the first close establish?

About $11 billion reached OpenAI's accounts by Friday, Nov. 6, according to people familiar with the deal. At that stage, remaining tranches were expected to lift the round to as much as $20 billion.

The $15 billion total reported on Nov. 12 adds roughly $4 billion to that first close. CNBC also reported SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's MGX as participants, while OpenAI withheld the identity of its lead investors.

CFO Sarah Friar called $1.25 trillion a pre-money valuation during a television interview. She also placed it almost 50% above OpenAI's March price. The distinction matters. CNBC did not publish a final post-money figure, so the November and March valuations do not rest on the same stated basis.

How does the price compare with March?

OpenAI closed $122 billion in committed capital in March at an $852 billion post-money valuation. Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank anchored that round, and Microsoft continued to participate, according to CNBC's report of the March transaction.

That March price provides the baseline for Friar's almost 50% comparison. The latest round still carries a caveat: its $1.25 trillion figure is pre-money, while the March figure is post-money, and the report gives no final terms for the remaining capital or investor allocations.

CNBC noted that Nvidia had invested at least $30 billion in OpenAI. The same report referred to Jensen Huang's resignation as Nvidia's CEO. The report did not explain whether the leadership change affected OpenAI's financing or valuation.

Why does OpenAI need more capital?

CNBC linked OpenAI's repeated fundraising to spending that now runs ahead of its fast revenue growth. The report offered no total spending figure, cash-burn forecast or capital requirement, which limits any assessment of how much more the company may need.

Third-quarter revenue rose about 50% from the prior quarter to roughly $10 billion, according to reports from The Information, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal. The operating loss widened to $10.9 billion over the same period. Those figures show rapid top-line expansion alongside a larger loss, but they do not quantify OpenAI's full cash burn.

OpenAI expects an initial public offering in 2027, CNBC reported. It remains unclear whether the company will attempt another fundraising round before then, leaving both the timing and size of any additional raise open.

What does Anthropic's IPO change?

Anthropic, OpenAI's chief rival, is scheduled to go public next week, according to CNBC. The Financial Times reported that Anthropic's bankers have considered pricing the offering above its filed range, at a valuation of $1.5 trillion or more.

The two headline valuations require caution. CNBC described OpenAI's number as pre-money, while its report on Anthropic did not specify the valuation basis. The source also gave no filed price range for Anthropic, despite saying bankers discussed pricing above it.

The near-term test is public pricing, not another private valuation headline. Anthropic's IPO will test investor appetite at a time when OpenAI's quarterly operating loss reaches $10.9 billion. Any additional OpenAI raise before the expected 2027 IPO would reset its private price again and intensify competition for capital.