OpenAI Reportedly Raises $11B at $1.25T, Below What It Wanted
In short
- OpenAI has reportedly raised about $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation. The CFO confirmed the valuation on TV.
- That is below the roughly $1.4 trillion the press said it first wanted. OpenAI declined to comment on the funding itself.
- The money angle: a company valued like this needs your subscription money for years. Do not build your whole business on one vendor’s price.
Eleven billion dollars is a normal week for OpenAI now. The more interesting number is the one it did not get.
What happened
Bloomberg reported, and Reuters carried the headline, that OpenAI secured about $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation. The money is the first part of a bigger round. A separate report mentions up to $9 billion more that has not closed, which would put the total near $20 billion.
CFO Sarah Friar confirmed the $1.25 trillion pre-money figure in a TV interview. SoftBank and Abu Dhabi’s MGX took part. Lead investors, terms and use of the money were not disclosed.
Press reports said OpenAI first sought about $1.4 trillion, and two investors reportedly put the ask at $1.5 trillion. Friar disputed the higher figure. In March, OpenAI raised $122 billion at $852 billion, so this price is about 50% higher.
Friar also gave growth claims: Q3 revenue up 70% quarter over quarter, enterprise business doubled, roughly even split between consumer and enterprise, 1.2 billion weekly ChatGPT users and a $1 billion ads run rate by August. She gave no revenue in dollars, so none of this can be checked.
How to use it
You cannot invest in this round. But you can protect your costs.
First, keep your prompts and workflows portable. If one vendor raises prices, you switch in a day, not a quarter. Second, watch the ads number. A company with a $1 billion ads run rate is telling you that free users are the product.
Do the math: $1.25 trillion divided by 1.2 billion weekly users is about $1,040 of valuation per user. A €20 monthly plan (my example price) brings €240 a year. Treating $ and € as equal, that is over four years of full payment from every single weekly user. Most users pay nothing.
What it means
Investors still pay up, but they negotiated down. That tells you the market sees growth, and also sees a ceiling on how big the number can go. Pressure to raise prices or push ads gets stronger, not weaker.
The sourcing is thin. The $11 billion comes from people familiar with the deal. Only the valuation has an on-record voice.
Ivan’s Take
Big number, no revenue figure. I do not care about the valuation, I care about my bill. I would use OpenAI where it is the best tool and keep at least one cheaper model ready for every workflow, so I can move the day prices jump.
Sources: Reuters · 24/7 Wall St.
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