(May 23): Anthropic PBC is set to close its latest round of funding, which may top US$30 billion ($38.4 billion) at a valuation above US$900 billion, as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, vaulting ahead of rival OpenAI to become the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence (AI) start-up.
Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Altimeter Capital and Greenoaks Capital Partners are expected to co-lead the financing round, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public. Each of the firms plan to invest roughly US$2 billion, the people said. A number of other existing Anthropic investors are also planning to participate, including Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund and General Catalyst, the people said.
The total investments in the round are currently tracking north of the US$30 billion that Anthropic had been targeting, the people said. The commitments are still being finalised and the terms could change.
The large round came together in a matter of weeks, a sign of strong investor demand for the Claude maker. In late April, Anthropic had been weighing whether to pursue new financing at a more than US$900 billion valuation after receiving several inbound proposals, Bloomberg News has reported. The AI start-up then kicked off discussions earlier this month.
Anthropic, Founders Fund, Sequoia and General Catalyst declined to comment. Dragoneer, Altimeter and Greenoaks did not respond to a request for comments. The Financial Times previously reported some participants in the round.
Founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI employees, Anthropic has since emerged as a leader in the AI sector. Anthropic has developed a series of AI tools aimed at overhauling the way businesses handle tasks from coding to cybersecurity. Anthropic and OpenAI are both expected to go public as soon as this fall, Bloomberg News has reported.
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Anthropic expects to post US$10.9 billion in revenue for the second quarter, more than doubling from the prior three-month period as demand surges for its AI software, Bloomberg News has reported. The company is also on pace for its first profitable quarter.
The company has told investors that its annualised run rate revenue will surpass US$50 billion by the end of next month, people familiar with the matter said. Anthropic’s run rate, a metric that projects full-year revenue based on sales from a shorter period, was US$4 billion in July of last year.
At a conference this month, Anthropic chief executive officer Dario Amodei said the firm had experienced “80 times growth” in annualised revenue and usage in the first quarter of this year. As a result, he said, the start-up is “working as quickly as possible” to secure more computing resources to support its services.
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Anthropic has struck a nearly US$45 billion deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and a US$1.8 billion agreement with Akamai Technologies Inc to expand its computing capacity. It has also tapped Alphabet Inc’s Google for chips and cloud services.
Anthropic is also turning to some of its suppliers for additional financing. Google recently committed to invest US$10 billion in the start-up at a US$350 billion valuation, the same amount it was valued at in a funding round in February. Google plans to invest up to US$30 billion more in Anthropic if the start-up hits certain performance targets.
Amazon.com Inc also previously said it’s investing US$5 billion in Anthropic at a US$350 billion valuation, with plans to inject US$20 billion more over time. It’s unclear whether those two firms will be part of the upcoming funding round.
OpenAI was most recently valued at US$852 billion in a funding round completed in March. The company is expected to confidentially file draft paperwork to go public in the coming days.
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