OpenAI banks the first $11 billion of its new round; Brockman says it could be IPO-ready next year

First close: about $11 billion

OpenAI has closed a first portion of about $11 billion in a funding round that values it at $1.25 trillion, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 6, citing people familiar with the matter. The money was wired to the company as of Friday, the people said. One person said the rest of the round is expected to close in the coming weeks and could bring the total to as much as $20 billion. OpenAI declined to comment.

The roughly $11 billion in commitments had been known since late October, and Bloomberg notes that The Wall Street Journal previously reported some details of the round. What is new in Bloomberg’s report is that the money has arrived and who took part in the first close.

Investors and a smaller target

According to Bloomberg, Coatue Management and T. Rowe Price joined the first close. Other investors in the round include SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz and a syndicate of backers from the United Arab Emirates. OpenAI is also working with investment banks to raise money from high-net-worth individuals and retail investors.

The company initially set out to raise $30 billion or more at a $1.4 trillion valuation. Bloomberg says it scaled back amid a sharp sell-off in AI stocks. Concerns about new roadblocks to data center construction after the US midterm elections have also weighed on sentiment. OpenAI’s previous round, in March 2026, raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation. Bloomberg also reports that prospective buyers in rival Anthropic’s upcoming IPO are discussing a valuation range of $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, down from $1.5 trillion.

Brockman: “I think so. Yes.”

At WSJ’s Tech conference on Nov. 4 (US time), co-founder and president Greg Brockman was asked whether OpenAI could be ready to go public next year. “I think so. Yes,” he said, without giving a date. According to TechCrunch, he added that OpenAI wants to go public when the time is right and feels “extremely good about the business.”

Brockman called the first two quarters of 2026 “pretty rough.” He conceded that OpenAI “wasn’t even in the conversation” in agentic coding, an area where TechCrunch notes Anthropic’s Claude Code had gained share. He said annualized revenue grew 70% quarter over quarter in the third quarter, which he attributed to the enterprise business doubling. Enterprise, once about 30% of revenue, now makes up the majority, while consumer revenue is still growing. He cited JPMorgan Chase as an example client. The figures are Brockman’s own; OpenAI gave no absolute revenue number.