OpenAI has reportedly raised another $11 billion in a new funding round that values the AI lab at $1.25 trillion, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. That would make it one of the world's most valuable companies. But the round hasn't closed yet, and it is shaping up to be smaller than OpenAI first hoped.
Less money than it wanted
The round is expected to close in the coming weeks and could total about $20 billion, a source told Bloomberg, echoing reports in the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal the week before. That's well short of the $30 billion OpenAI reportedly first set out to raise, at a higher valuation of $1.4 trillion. For context, OpenAI raised $122 billion from investors as recently as March, at a valuation of $852 billion. So the company is still worth far more than it was in March, just less than it hoped to be.
Why investors are more cautious
The mood around AI has cooled. As TechCrunch noted, the Democratic landslide in the US midterms, along with overwhelmingly negative voter sentiment around data centres, has caused jitters across the market, with many expecting regulatory challenges down the line. And it isn't only OpenAI feeling it. Its rival Anthropic filed to go public last week, and Bloomberg reports that some potential buyers believe Anthropic could be valued at as little as $1.1 trillion, compared with the $2 trillion investors were said to expect about a month ago.
OpenAI hadn't responded to TechCrunch's request for comment. Even at a lower price than it wanted, a $1.25 trillion valuation shows how much money investors are still willing to put behind AI. The question now is how much of that cooler mood shows up in the final size of OpenAI's round, and in the price Anthropic gets when it lists.
