OpenAI has cut the target for its latest funding round by $10 billion, to about $20 billion, and lowered the valuation it is seeking to $1.25 trillion from $1.4 trillion, the Financial Times reported on October 30, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Reuters carried the FT's report that evening.
The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI has so far secured about $11 billion in commitments for a round that initially targeted $30 billion, according to Investing.com's summary of the Journal's story. That is 37% of the original goal and 55% of the new one, by SaasBuzz's count. Both reports landed in the same week that rival Anthropic filed to go public and software stocks fell with the AI selloff.
What the reports say
OpenAI had set a deadline of Friday, October 30, for investors to commit, but the "first close" is expected to raise less than $20 billion after some investors reduced their allocations, Reuters wrote, citing the FT. Bloomberg's account of the same report said the AI stock selloff and Anthropic's impending listing complicate OpenAI's efforts to secure investor commitments.
According to the FT, as reported by Reuters:
A consortium of investors from the United Arab Emirates that includes MGX, a state-backed technology fund, is expected to be the round's largest participant.
As part of that deal, OpenAI would gain the option to lease newly built computing capacity in the region.
Founders Fund, Coatue, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are also expected to take part.
Wealthy individuals will have the option to invest later, in a retail offering at the same $1.25 trillion valuation.
None of the reports named an investor that had dropped out. The amounts are the outlets' accounts of a round that has not closed, and OpenAI has not confirmed any of them.
How the round compares with March
OpenAI announced on March 31 that it had raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation, SiliconANGLE reported at the time. Set beside that round, the reported terms look like this:
Round | Amount | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
March, closed | $122B | $852B |
First target | $30B | $1.4T |
New target | $20B | $1.25T |
Committed | $11B | $1.25T |
Sources: SiliconANGLE, March 31, 2026; the Financial Times via Reuters and Bloomberg, October 30 and 31; the Wall Street Journal via Investing.com, October 31.
Even after the cut, $1.25 trillion is 47% above March's $852 billion. The valuation cut is $150 billion, or 10.7% of the valuation OpenAI first sought. The pickups of the FT's report do not say whether $1.25 trillion is counted before or after the new money; at these sizes the difference does not change the rounded results below.
The new round is small next to the last one. In March, $122 billion bought 14.3% of the company at the post-money valuation. A full $20 billion at $1.25 trillion would buy about 1.6%, and the $11 billion the Journal reported would buy about 0.9%. The revised target is 16.4% of March's total.
What it means for AI's private money
The two largest private AI companies are now competing for public and private money in the same weeks. Anthropic filed its registration statement on Form S-1 on October 26 to list Class A shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol ANT. OpenAI, which is pursuing a listing in 2027, has been keen to close its round partly to get ahead of Anthropic's listing, because the two draw on a similar investor base, Reuters has reported.
The market the round was sold into moved against it. The Nasdaq dropped 2.9% on October 30 and closed 7.8% below its record close of October 6, Reuters reported.
For people who build, buy or invest in software, the reports point to a narrower point than a collapse of AI funding. Investors are still putting money into OpenAI at a valuation well above March's, and the investors the FT named are still expected to take part. What changed, by the reports' account, is price and size: OpenAI is selling a smaller slice at a lower price than the $30 billion at $1.4 trillion it sought last month, according to Bloomberg's account of the FT's report. Anthropic's IPO pricing and OpenAI's planned retail offering are the next places that test shows up in public numbers.
What OpenAI has said
OpenAI had not commented publicly on the reports by 6:15 a.m. ET on October 31. Reuters said OpenAI, MGX, Coatue, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz did not immediately respond to its requests for comment outside business hours, and that Founders Fund could not be reached. OpenAI's and CEO Sam Altman's accounts on X had posted about products and research that week and nothing about the round.
