Tech & AI
OpenAI Closes First $11bn of New Round at $1.25tn Valuation, Reports Say
The initial close is well short of the $30bn the company first sought, and the IPO has reportedly been pushed back.
HedgeWeekly Tech & AI Desk ·
OpenAI has closed an initial $11bn of fresh funding that values the ChatGPT maker at $1.25tn, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The money is the first part of a larger round and was reported as transferred as of 6 November. OpenAI has not confirmed the figures.
The round could reach about $20bn in the coming weeks, according to a report from Pulse 2.0, though the final size depends on investor appetite and market conditions. That is a good deal lower than the $30bn at roughly $1.4tn that the company was reported to be seeking earlier. Coatue Management and T. Rowe Price are named as participants in the first close.
The $1.25tn mark is roughly 47% above the $852bn valuation set in March, when OpenAI raised $122bn. The raise comes in the same week that AI shares sold off sharply. OpenAI is also reported to have delayed its plans for a stock-market listing while it keeps raising money privately.
Why it matters: private-market pricing for the biggest AI labs is a reference point for listed AI suppliers, from chipmakers to cloud providers whose order books depend on lab spending. A smaller, slower round than the one first sought suggests investors are more selective after the sell-off. Watch for the final round size, whether the valuation holds, and how it compares with expectations for rival Anthropic's planned listing.