OpenAI Cuts Its Funding Target to $20 Billion, Reports Say

The ChatGPT maker has about $11 billion secured at a $1.25 trillion valuation, and some big investors are lukewarm, reports say.

OpenAI set out to raise $30 billion. It's now aiming for $20 billion, the Financial Times reported Friday, according to TechCrunch. A post about the cut from the markets account @KobeissiLetter had passed 559,000 views on X by Sunday.

The @KobeissiLetter post presents it as two cuts, $10 billion off the target and $150 billion off the valuation, both "amid this week's technology stock selloff." The valuation cut isn't new. TechCrunch reported on Oct. 22, citing CNBC, that the round was being negotiated at a $1.25 trillion valuation, down from the $1.4 trillion figure reported a month before that.

The new part is the smaller round. The FT said the first close should come in under $20 billion. So far, $11 billion is locked in, The Wall Street Journal reported in a follow-up that TechCrunch cited, and some large investors have given the round a "tepid" reception. OpenAI hasn't commented publicly.

A group of investors from the United Arab Emirates is leading the round, the FT said, and a later sale to wealthy individuals could bring it to $20 billion. OpenAI has tapped individuals before. In March it raised $3 billion from them through bank channels as part of a $122 billion round, The Next Web reported.

That March round valued OpenAI at $852 billion. Even after the markdown, the new price is about $400 billion higher.

Source: X, retrieved November 1, 2026. Other sources: TechCrunch, TechCrunch (2), thenextweb.com.