OpenAI confirmed on Friday (November 6) that it has closed the first tranche of a new funding round at $11 billion, valuing the artificial intelligence company at $1.25 trillion. The figure, originally reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by Reuters, represents a significant reduction from the initial target the company had been seeking—$30 billion to $35 billion—and reflects the cooling of the AI investment market since the beginning of the year.
The funds were wired to the company's account on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, as the information is not public. SoftBank and the sovereign wealth fund MGX were the lead anchors of the round, while Coatue Management and a consortium of United Arab Emirates-based investors also wired checks as part of the first close. T. Rowe Price and the Founders Fund participated in the first tranche, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley working to raise capital from high-net-worth and retail investors. SoftBank, Founders Fund, and T. Rowe Price declined to comment; Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, and Sequoia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
OpenAI initially sought to raise $30 billion or more at a $1.4 trillion valuation in early October. However, the company cut that figure to about $20 billion at $1.25 trillion the week before the close, as reported by the Financial Times on October 30. The original target had already been revised when the company began encountering resistance from investors concerned about AI infrastructure spending levels and political and regulatory risks following the US midterm elections.
The drop in OpenAI's valuation is a direct reflection of the selloff in public technology stocks. The Nasdaq 100 fell 6.4% on November 5 after its worst week since mid-October, pressured by sells in AI-linked tech stocks. The decline in the Nasdaq was the spark for a wave of downward revisions in private valuations of AI startups. Rival Anthropic, which is processing an IPO on the Nasdaq and is expected to list in mid-November, also saw its valuation re-priced—from initial expectations of $2 trillion to ranges around $1.1 trillion to $1.5 trillion.
What is more significant than the absolute value is the speed at which the market adjusted. In March 2026, OpenAI closed a historic $122 billion round at an $852 billion post-money valuation—what seemed to be the apex of a cycle of financial euphoria that was never supposed to end. Just seven months later, the same lab was negotiating against a falling market, with a first close representing less than half the originally intended amount. The delta between what was initially sought and what was effectively closed—about $19 billion in unfunded capital and a valuation difference of approximately $150 billion—is the first concrete print that private capital prices bend to the public equity tape.
OpenAI has been postponing its IPO plans since it was initially announced that the company would go public in 2026. According to Sam Altman, the company is now working confidentially with the SEC to prepare a prospectus, but there is no set date for the listing. The absence of an official statement from OpenAI about the close reinforces the idea that the company is testing the waters before any public announcement.
The question now is whether the second tranche—the remaining $9 billion—will close at the same $1.25 trillion valuation in the coming weeks or if there will be another adjustment. If the market continues to fall, OpenAI could face the same dilemma that led Anthropic to delay its own IPO. And if the second tranche closes without a further discount, that would signal the market may have found its bottom—which would be, in itself, an important signal for AI investors trying to navigate a constantly changing environment.
Sources: Bloomberg, Dealroom, The Decoder
✓ Independent sources cross-checked and verified before publishing
