The OpenAI funding round has secured 11 billion dollars so far, according to Bloomberg reporting cited by TechCrunch and SiliconANGLE. The larger transaction has not closed and could total about 20 billion dollars when it finishes in the coming weeks, putting OpenAI Group PBC at an expected 1.25 trillion dollar valuation. Investors have already wired the first 11 billion dollars to the company, and as much as 9 billion dollars more could arrive.
That result matters because it combines substantial fresh capital with evidence that private investors have become more selective. Bloomberg reported in late September that OpenAI was seeking 30 billion dollars. TechCrunch said the current amount is less than half that target, while the 1.25 trillion dollar valuation fell short of expectations and major investors appeared to pull back during the recent technology sell-off.
OpenAI funding round: From 30 billion target to 11 billion secured
OpenAI has not identified the backers involved in this transaction. Microsoft is among the possible participants, having contributed to at least four previous rounds. Its most recent 122 billion dollar raise in March also included Nvidia, Amazon and about two dozen other participants. Those names provide context for the scale of capital historically available to OpenAI, but they do not confirm their participation in the new round.
The Decoder said the first tranche of fresh capital points to a saturating artificial intelligence capital market and growing investor caution. Its review also noted that OpenAI had discussed even larger plans, including a possible 40 billion dollar round at a valuation of around 300 billion dollars. Those earlier discussions show how quickly financing expectations can shift as public market sentiment and perceived growth prospects change.
At 1.25 trillion dollars, the expected valuation could put OpenAI on track to surpass Anthropic’s market capitalization. That comparison comes with important qualifications. Anthropic is preparing for an initial public offering and reportedly aims to go public before Thanksgiving, but investor expectations for the offering have fallen sharply.
Anthropic’s IPO ambitions face a lower ceiling
Bloomberg reported that potential buyers of Anthropic shares were considering a valuation as low as 1.1 trillion dollars, against expectations of 2 trillion dollars roughly a month earlier. Anthropic has hoped for a 1.5 trillion dollar valuation, although several investors do not regard that as realistic. The Wall Street Journal reported that one Anthropic shareholder wanted the company to pursue a valuation closer to 1 trillion dollars.
Both companies are presenting rapid revenue growth to prospective public investors. Anthropic’s initial public offering filing showed quarterly revenue rising 1,127 percent year over year in the third quarter. The Financial Times reported that OpenAI closed the quarter with 50 billion dollars in net annualized revenue, up 77 percent year over year. OpenAI President Greg Brockman said growth accelerated after the June launch of GPT-5.6 Sol, the immediate predecessor to GPT-6 Astra, with the company’s ChatGPT Work productivity application and coding tools also contributing.
OpenAI President Greg Brockman disclosed a slowdown during the first half of the year, making the funding announcement more consequential. The new money will give the company greater room to carry its infrastructure costs while it develops products and prepares for a public listing planned for sometime in 2027. TechCrunch said OpenAI had previously suggested a listing this year before delaying its plans, with expectations now pointing to an offering next year.
Infrastructure commitments raise the stakes
The Information reported in July that OpenAI had more than 665 billion dollars in chip and data center commitments. OpenAI has also developed a custom inference accelerator with Broadcom to reduce long-term hardware spending. The financing therefore serves two purposes. It supplies working capital for a capital-intensive business, while potentially giving investors more confidence that the company can continue expanding its computing capacity through the period before its planned listing.
That commitment is not limited to conventional cloud computing. OpenAI’s latest enterprise release, GPT-6 Cyber, can perform most cybersecurity tasks better than GPT-6 Astra. SiliconANGLE reported that OpenAI engineers used it to develop 948 Linux exploits and uncover 81 high-severity zero-day flaws in Firefox. Such capabilities could support enterprise adoption, but they do not remove the heavy investment required to train and operate advanced models.
The financing timetable also matters. Bloomberg reporting cited by TechCrunch said the round is expected to close in the coming weeks, and OpenAI could raise up to 9 billion dollars more. Until then, the 11 billion dollars represents a secured tranche rather than the final size of the transaction. The expected total of about 20 billion dollars would still fall materially short of the 30 billion dollar goal reported in late September.
AI spending loses momentum
Investor caution is not isolated to OpenAI’s fundraising. Ramp data showed that artificial intelligence token spending grew only 1.5 percent across August and September, compared with 42 percent growth in July from the previous month. Spending then re-accelerated by 8.9 percent from September 23 to October 23, but Ramp’s lead economist Ara Kharazian said the broader headwinds remained strong.
The issue is not a shortage of usage. Kharazian said artificial intelligence volumes are rising, but price competition is limiting revenue growth. Median firms spend 12 to 15 dollars per employee per month on artificial intelligence, while the top 10 percent spend 600 to 1,000 dollars. The top 1 percent had been spending just below 10,000 dollars per employee, and Ramp said that group showed a slight slowdown in August and September.
OpenAI cut API prices in half for GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna in September. Anthropic also reduced prices for Fable 5.1 and Opus 5.5, a decision that the company said in a filing cut revenue growth by about 600 million dollars. Kharazian said lower prices, open models and more disciplined customer routing are allowing companies to use more artificial intelligence while controlling costs, a development that may benefit users more directly than model providers.
Policy risk enters the valuation debate
The political environment adds another layer of uncertainty. TechCrunch reported that the Democratic landslide in the United States midterms, alongside overwhelmingly negative voter sentiment toward data centers, has left the artificial intelligence market in a particularly precarious position. Investors are considering whether future regulation could constrain infrastructure expansion, although SiliconANGLE said Big Tech could still benefit if limits on computing demand improve cloud and software margins.
Market reactions have already been volatile. SiliconANGLE reported that technology stocks lost a collective 2.5 trillion dollars in market capitalization on Thursday, as investors weighed the possibility that the artificial intelligence boom could slow, and as the sell-off put the whole sector’s financing assumptions back under scrutiny. Earlier gains after the elections suggested some investors expected tighter limits on data centers could improve margins, but that optimism quickly reversed.
OpenAI’s latest funding leaves the company better placed to navigate that uncertainty. The 11 billion dollars secured, with a possible 9 billion dollars still to come, provides substantial support for infrastructure spending before the planned 2027 listing. Yet the smaller amount raised relative to the earlier 30 billion dollar target, combined with weaker artificial intelligence spending growth and political resistance to data centers, shows why the OpenAI funding round is more than a routine capital raise. It is a test of whether investors will accept slower revenue growth, intense price competition and rising infrastructure obligations while OpenAI and Anthropic compete for a much larger public market valuation.