OpenAI Reportedly Raises $15 Billion at $1.25 Trillion Valuation, Half Its Original Target

OpenAI has reportedly raised $15 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, according to CNBC's David Faber, who reported the figure on Thursday, November 12, citing people familiar with the matter. The funding round is described as an opportunistic raise to carry the company toward an initial public offering expected in 2027 — but it has not formally closed, and OpenAI has not confirmed the amount.

The reported total lands well short of what OpenAI first went looking for. When the company first approached investors, it sought as much as $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation. The $15 billion it has now reportedly secured is roughly half that original target, and at a lower price than the one it pitched.

Even so, the valuation marks a steep climb from OpenAI's last round. At $1.25 trillion, the company is priced about 47% above the $852 billion valuation attached to its March 2026 round, when it raised $122 billion in committed capital. One comparison deserves a note of caution: chief financial officer Sarah Friar described the $1.25 trillion figure as a pre-money valuation during a television interview on November 6, while the March figure was a post-money valuation, so the two are not measured on exactly the same basis.

Half the original target

The round has come together in stages. About $11 billion had already reached OpenAI by November 6, in a first close reported by Reuters citing Bloomberg News, and the total has since risen to the reported $15 billion. SoftBank and Abu Dhabi's MGX were reported as participants, though OpenAI has not disclosed who led the round. It remains unclear whether the company will try to raise more before the round closes, which is expected within the next couple of weeks.

The scale of the money already flowing into OpenAI is striking. According to Faber, Nvidia has provided the company with about $30 billion and SoftBank about $65 billion — figures that cover cumulative investment, not this round alone. Those sums underline how much of the AI industry's capital now runs through a single company.

A bridge to a 2027 listing

The timing of the raise is no accident. People familiar with the matter described it as a bridge to a public listing expected in 2027, giving OpenAI fresh capital to keep building while it prepares for the market. For a company whose spending on computing power and data centres is still outrunning its revenue, that runway matters.

OpenAI's revenue is growing fast. The company took in about $10 billion in the third quarter, nearly 50% more than in the previous quarter, according to CNBC. But the cost of the infrastructure behind that growth is growing faster still: the Wall Street Journal reported an operating loss of about $10.9 billion in the same quarter. The new money helps cover the gap while OpenAI keeps scaling.

The Anthropic comparison

The reported round lands a week before rival Anthropic is due to list on Nasdaq on November 19, with a price range of $70 to $78 a share and a target valuation of up to about $1.4 trillion. For now, the private and public marks of the two leading AI labs sit in the same range — and once Anthropic is trading, investors will be able to compare them on public-market disclosures for the first time.

Until OpenAI confirms the round itself, the $15 billion figure remains a report, not a fact. What is clear is the direction of travel: a company valued at $852 billion in March is now, on reported terms, worth $1.25 trillion — and still raising, still spending, and still heading for the public markets.

For background on how this round began, see our earlier report on OpenAI's $11 billion first close at a $1.25 trillion valuation.

Sources

• CNBC, Faber Report, 12 November 2026 (via Dealroom)
• Dealroom News — "OpenAI raises $15B at a $1.25T valuation, half its original target, as it bridges to a 2027 IPO"
• Asianet Newsable — "OpenAI Reportedly Raises $15B At $1.25 Trillion Valuation"
• Tech Funding News — "OpenAI reportedly raises $15B at $1.25T valuation as Anthropic IPO approaches"
• Chip Dispatch — "OpenAI Raises $15 Billion at $1.25 Trillion Valuation"