OpenAI Raises $15B at a $1.25T Valuation, CNBC Says

OpenAI has raised $15 billion at a valuation of $1.25 trillion, CNBC reported on November 12. David Faber, citing people familiar with the matter, said the money came from both existing and new investors, and that it is not clear whether OpenAI will raise more than the $15 billion. OpenAI has not announced the round or named its investors, so the figures rest on that reporting for now.

The number is notable mostly for how far it has come down. On October 22, CNBC reported that OpenAI was nearing a round of up to $30 billion at the same $1.25 trillion valuation, led by investors from the United Arab Emirates alongside Coatue; the company had earlier been aiming at about $1.4 trillion. By October 31 the target had been pared to up to $20 billion, after the Financial Times reported a $10 billion cut and some investors trimming their allocations during a sell-off in technology stocks. Bloomberg then reported on November 6 that an initial $11 billion had closed, according to a Seeking Alpha summary of the reports.

Chief financial officer Sarah Friar defended the price on CNBC on November 6. “The round is ongoing, but we feel quite confident in it,” she said, according to the published transcript, adding that $1.25 trillion “is almost a 50 percent lift in valuation from the round we closed in March”, when OpenAI raised $122 billion at $852 billion. The transcript has her describing it as a pre-money valuation, while the FT has called it post-money; at $15 billion the difference is small, but neither side has settled it.

Friar leaned on growth to explain why investors still came in. She told CNBC the business grew 70% quarter over quarter, that enterprise revenue doubled and now makes up half the total, that advertising reached a $1 billion annual run rate in under 200 days by August, and that OpenAI has 1.2 billion weekly users. The Information separately reported that third-quarter revenue passed $10 billion, about 50% above the second quarter, citing an investor meeting. OpenAI has not published either figure, and Friar declined to discuss margins.

The timing puts OpenAI next to its closest rival on very different terms. Anthropic has set its IPO range at $70 to $78 a share, which would value it at about $1.4 trillion fully diluted at the top, and is preparing to list on the Nasdaq. Asked whether that complicates OpenAI’s fundraising, Friar said she had read Anthropic’s S-1 and that the rule is to “raise money when you can, but also run your own race.” On OpenAI’s own listing she would only say the company would “continue to look in ’27.”

The investor base points the same way as the company’s recent deals: the round’s reported lead investors are from the UAE, where OpenAI signed four agreements in Abu Dhabi at the start of November. A valuation step from $852 billion to $1.25 trillion in about eight months would have been the headline in any other year. This time the headline is the cheque, and a target that halved in three weeks says more about how much private money is still willing to chase a single AI lab at this price than the price itself does.