OpenAI cuts funding target to $20 billion as investor appetite cools

OpenAI is now aiming to raise $20 billion in its latest round, a third less than the $30 billion it had sought. The Financial Times first reported the lower target. TechCrunch's write-up, dated 31 October, is the source for most of the detail below.

The cut follows earlier reports that put the raise at $30 billion, first at a $1.4 trillion valuation and then at $1.25 trillion ahead of a planned IPO. The IPO is still planned, but no date has been given.

Money is the pressure point. The Wall Street Journal reports that OpenAI has secured $11 billion so far and describes the response from some large investors as tepid. That $11 billion figure has not been independently confirmed. The first close is expected to come in below $20 billion, though no figure has been given.

The round will be led by a group of investors from the United Arab Emirates, according to the Financial Times, and no investors are named. A later retail offering for wealthy individuals could take the total to $20 billion.

TechCrunch links the funding difficulties to Wall Street wariness about heavy AI infrastructure spending and a broader tech stock selloff. It reached out to OpenAI, but its article includes no response from the company.

The structure of the round says a lot. Investors from the United Arab Emirates lead it, and the retail offering is the route to the full $20 billion. Anyone pricing OpenAI's paper should watch the first close more closely than the headline number, because that figure is expected to be lower.

The exposure reaches beyond OpenAI. TechCrunch says Anthropic's planned IPO could also face challenges, which suggests the same market conditions could weigh on other AI listings. For founders and investors, the signals to watch are the size of the first close, whether the retail offering goes ahead, and any date for OpenAI's IPO. None of those is set yet.