Anthropic Seeks $2 Billion Funding at $60 Billion Valuation, Led by Lightspeed Venture Partners

AI Startup Anthropic Plans to Raise $2 Billion at a $60 Billion Valuation

Anthropic declined to comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported the funding on Tuesday. Amazon late last year doubled its investment in the startup to $8 billion, as the e-commerce giant went up against Big Tech rivals in a race to capitalize on generative AI technology. The latest $4 billion issued to Amazon in convertible notes will be converted into equity through this round. Anthropic, whose annualized revenue hit about $875 million, sells access to its models directly and through third-party cloud services including Amazon Web Services. The large language models development requires expensive computing, as well as top talents. Co-founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, San Francisco-based Anthropic also received $2 billion investment from Alphabet in 2023.

Anthropic reportedly raising up to $2B at $60B valuation - SiliconANGLE

OpenAI rival Anthropic PBC is seeking to raise up to $2 billion in new funding, multiple publications reported today. CNBC and the Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying that investment could value the company at $60 billion. That's more than three times the valuation Anthropic received last year in a funding round led by Menlo Ventures. Lightspeed Venture Partners is said to be leading the company's latest raise. Anthropic develops a family of large language models called Claude. It released the most advanced model in the series, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, in June. Two months later, the company rolled out an upgraded version of the LLM that can perform actions in applications on the user's behalf. The latest Claude 3.5 Sonnet release scored 49% on SWE-bench Verified, a benchmark that measures neural networks' programming skills. That's a nearly 16% improvement over the original version that debuted in June. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available alongside a less capable but more cost-efficient model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, that scored 40.6% on SWE-bench Verified. Anthropic offers its LLMs through an application programming interface. The company also provides a ChatGPT-like chatbot called Claude Enterprise. The service can generate code, create sales forecasts and perform other business tasks based on datasets provided by the user. CNBC cited a source as saying that Anthropic currently generates $875 million in annualized recurring revenue, mainly from deals with enterprises. This past September, Reuters reported that OpenAI was on track to to end 2024 with $3.7 billion in revenue and expects to reach $11.6 billion this year. CNBC's source didn't specify how fast Anthropic is growing. When it released the latest version of Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Anthropic revealed plans to launch an even more capable model called Claude 3.5 Opus in the future. The new funding that it's raising could potentially help support the development effort. OpenAI's newest reasoning models are based on a machine learning approach known as test-time compute. It boosts an LLM's response quality by increasing the amount of hardware used to process prompts, which in turn raises inference costs. If Anthropic decides to implement test-time compute in its future LLMs, the $2 billion it's raising could make it easier to shoulder the associated costs. The reported funding round follows three earlier multibillion-dollar investments. In 2023, Anthropic secured an investment worth up to $2 billion from Google LLC. Later that year, Amazon.com Inc. bought a stake in the LLM developer for $4 billion. AWS doubled its investment this past November as part of an agreement that also saw it became Anthropic's primary partner of AI training infrastructure. OpenAI closed a $6.6 billion funding round of its own last year at a $157 million valuation. It also secured a $4 billion line of credit from a group of banks. Cohere Inc., another major player in the general-purpose LLM segment, earlier raised $500 million from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and other investors.

Anthropic in talks to raise funding at $60 billion valuation

Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup founded by ex-OpenAI research executives, is in late-stage talks to raise as much as $2 billion at a $60 billion valuation, CNBC has confirmed. The funding round is being led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the details are confidential. The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the funding news. Anthropic, which has been backed heavily by Amazon, is the creator of the AI chatbot Claude. Like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini, Claude has exploded in popularity as businesses incorporate generative AI chatbots across sales, marketing and customer service functions. Anthropic and OpenAI, along with tech giants Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta, are in a generative AI arms race to ensure they don't fall behind in a market predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade. Microsoft, OpenAI's principal investor, and Amazon are backing generative AI startups with hefty investments as well as developing their own technologies. Anthropic's annualized revenue is about $875 million and comes chiefly from enterprise sales, the person said. Lightspeed, an existing investor in Anthropic, declined to comment on the current round. In November, Amazon announced that it would invest an additional $4 billion in Anthropic, bringing its total investment to $8 billion. Amazon remains a minority investor, Anthropic confirmed to CNBC at the time, and does not have a board seat. Google committed to invest $2 billion in Anthropic last year, after previously confirming it had taken a 10% stake in the startup alongside a large cloud contract between the two companies. The same month as Amazon's most recent investment, the company's cloud division became Anthropic's "primary cloud and training partner." Anthropic will use Amazon Web Services' Trainium and Inferentia chips to train and deploy its largest AI models moving forward. Anthropic ramped up development throughout last year and in October said its AI agents were able to use a computer, like a human would, to complete complex tasks. Anthropic's new Computer Use capability allows its technology to interpret what's on a computer screen, select buttons, enter text, navigate websites, and execute tasks through any software and real-time internet browsing. The tool can "use computers in basically the same way that we do," Jared Kaplan, Anthropic's chief science officer, told CNBC in an interview at the time. He said it can do tasks with "tens or even hundreds of steps." OpenAI reportedly plans to introduce a similar feature soon. In September, Anthropic rolled out Claude Enterprise, its biggest new product since its chatbot's debut, designed for businesses looking to integrate its AI. Earlier in the year, Anthropic debuted its more powerful AI model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

Anthropic to raise $2bn at a $60bn valuation, sources say

Amazon pumped $2.75bn into the start-up last year, completing a $4bn deal with the company. AI start-up Anthropic is nearing a deal to raise $2bn in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, a move that would place the three-year old company at a $60bn valuation, sources told the Wall Street Journal. This comes after a $4bn injection deal from Amazon into the start-up in September 2023, which included a $1.25bn initial investment by Amazon Web Services (AWS) the same year, giving the e-commerce giant a minority stake in the business. The initial investment was followed with Amazon pumping $2.75bn into Anthropic in March 2024. As part of the deal, Anthropic agreed to use AWS Trainium and Inferentia chips to build, train and deploy its future foundation models, while the two also announced that they will work together on improving the chips in the future. Also in 2023, Google's parent Alphabet invested $300m in Anthropic for a 10pc stake, which resulted in Anthropic making Google Cloud its "preferred cloud provider". While earlier last year, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority which investigated an Alphabet-Anthropic partnership in the country, concluded that it did not qualify for an investigation, citing that Alphabet would not have "material influence" over the AI start-up as a result of the partnership. Anthropic, the start-up behind the AI chatbot Claude, burst onto the industry at a time when businesses were beginning to jump on the generative AI (GenAI) train. Created by several former OpenAI employees in 2021, the 'public benefit corporation' calls itself an "AI safety and research company", even developing a framework for assessing different AI capabilities to respond to emerging risks. The company is often viewed as an alternative to the GenAI giant OpenAI, a company embroiled in a number of controversies shifting towards becoming a for-profit corporation, breaking away from its previous non-profit company structure. However, Anthropic has come under fire for claims of copyright infringement. Last year, a trio of authors took the start-up to court over claims that the company used pirated versions of various copyrighted material to train Claude. In a filing with a US district court in California, the plaintiffs claim that the "largescale theft of copyrighted works" is a key component of Anthropic's business model, adding that the company has "taken multiple steps to hide the full extent of its copyright theft". Anthropic however, denies these claims. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Anthropic reportedly in talks to raise $2B at $60B valuation, led by Lightspeed | TechCrunch

OpenAI rival Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in new capital in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The round, which The Journal reports would value Anthropic at $60 billion, would bring Anthropic's total raised to $15.7 billion, going by Crunchbase's data. It would also make the company the fifth-most valuable U.S. startup after SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks. AI companies have been forced to raise enormous sums of money to fund the development and scaling of their technologies, which tend to be incredibly compute-intensive. OpenAI raised $6.6 billion in a funding round last October, and Elon Musk's AI startup, xAI, raised $6 billion in November. Anthropic's new round, should it close successfully, would add to the $4 billion the company raised from Amazon in November 2024. As part of that deal, Anthropic agreed to make Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud computing division, its primary AI model training partner and help optimize Amazon's AI accelerator chips.

Anthropic in talks to raise $2 billion, reaching $60 billion valuation - WSJ By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Anthropic, an artificial intelligence startup, is currently in advanced negotiations to raise $2 billion in a funding round that would increase the company's value to $60 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. This development comes amidst a growing interest from investors in AI technology. The funding round is spearheaded by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to sources close to the matter. The proposed $60 billion valuation encompasses the capital Anthropic plans to raise in this round. If successful, this deal would position Anthropic as the fifth-most valuable U.S. startup, following SpaceX, OpenAI, Stripe, and Databricks, as per data from CB Insights. In the previous year, the company was valued at $18 billion in a round led by Menlo Ventures. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), a close partner of Anthropic, has been a significant source of the startup's funding. In November, Amazon pledged $4 billion to Anthropic, bringing its total investment since 2023 to $8 billion. The investment made in November was a convertible note, which will be converted into equity at the valuation established in the current round. Anthropic's technology is developed and managed in data centers operated by Amazon and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL). Google, like Amazon, has also invested billions of dollars in the startup.

Report: AI Startup Anthropic in Advanced Talks to Raise $2 Billion | PYMNTS.com

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is reportedly in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a funding round that would value it at $60 billion. The $60 billion valuation would include the money the company plans to raise in the round, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday (Jan. 7), citing unnamed sources. Anthropic did not immediately reply to PYMNTS' request for comment. The reported valuation would also be an increase from the $18 billion at which the company was valued in a 2024 funding round and would make Anthropic the fifth-most valuable U.S. startup, according to the WSJ report. Anthropic's annualized revenue recently reached $875 million, per the report. Other AI companies have seen their valuations increase in recent months amid growing investor confidence that the technology could revolutionize industries and create new opportunities, PYMNTS reported Oct. 3. OpenAI said Oct. 2 that it raised $6.6 billion in a funding round that valued it at $157 billion. The ChatGPT creator said it planned to use the capital to boost its leadership in frontier AI research, expand computational capacity and enhance its suite of problem-solving tools. It was reported Nov. 20 that xAI, Elon Musk's AI startup, raised $5 billion in a funding round that valued it at $50 billion -- up from the $24 billion at which it was valued in spring 2024. The company said it planned to use the money to add another 100,000 Nvidia chips for training its AI models. Another AI startup, Perplexity AI, reportedly closed a $500 million funding round in December that tripled its valuation to $9 billion. Perplexity AI started 2024 with a valuation of $520 million. Anthropic's backers include Amazon, which invested another $4 billion in the AI startup in November after making an initial investment of $4 billion in it in September 2023. Amazon said in a Nov. 22 press release that millions of end users and tens of thousands of customers -- including startups, enterprises and government institutions -- were using Anthropic's Claude in Amazon Bedrock.

AI start-up Anthropic closes in on $60bn valuation

Artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic is close to securing a $2bn investment in a deal that would triple the four-year-old company's valuation to $60bn. The maker of the Claude AI chatbot is in advanced talks about raising the fresh capital from a number of top Silicon Valley investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round comes two months after Anthropic secured an additional $4bn investment from ecommerce giant Amazon, one of its closest partners. It is the latest massive funding deal for an AI company. In October, OpenAI raised $6.6bn in a round valuing the company at $157bn, while Elon Musk's xAI, which has gained ground on rivals since launching in 2023, raised $6bn at a $45bn valuation in December. The vast sums are almost unprecedented for venture capital-backed start-ups, which have historically gone public long before their valuations reached tens of billions of dollars. Last year, roughly half of the $209bn spent by US venture capitalists went to AI companies, according to data provider PitchBook. Anthropic and rival start-ups such as xAI and OpenAI, as well as established Big Tech companies including Meta and Google, have been in a fierce race to develop cutting-edge AI models, which require billions of dollars to train and run. Investors are not anticipating start-ups in the sector will be profitable in the near future. Ultimately, though, they believe the technology could create trillions of dollars in value. Anthropic, a San Francisco-based company, was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees with a focus on safety. It has been competitive with leading AI start-ups over the past year, and poached multiple staff from OpenAI in recent months. It was also first to release certain features such as the ability for its AI to control computers. Leading AI companies, including Anthropic, have demonstrated progress towards models that show signs of "reasoning", or being able to consider tasks rather than simply regurgitating information. They are also racing to create AI agents that can complete tasks for users. Executives in the sector have forecast 2025 will see more significant breakthroughs in AI technology, including potentially achieving artificial general intelligence -- loosely defined as matching or surpassing human intelligence across a set of disciplines. "We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it," OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman wrote in a blog published this week. "We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents 'join the workforce' and materially change the output of companies," he added. Details of Anthropic's fundraise were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Anthropic declined to comment. Lightspeed Venture Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jeff Bezos-Backed Anthropic Set To Become One Of The Top 5 US Startups As It Reportedly Eyes $60 Billion Valuation With $2 Billion Funding Round - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Anthropic, the AI startup behind "Claude" backed by Jeff Bezos, is reportedly in advanced discussions to secure $2 billion in funding. This deal could elevate its valuation to $60 billion, positioning it among the top five most valuable U.S. startups. What Happened: The funding round is reportedly led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to sources familiar with the matter. This valuation includes the anticipated $2 billion from the current fundraising efforts. Anthropic's valuation last year was $18 billion, led by Menlo Ventures, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The AI sector has seen a surge in investment activities, with companies like OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI raising substantial funds. Investors are optimistic about generative AI's potential, despite the financial losses many AI startups face due to high operational costs and fierce competition. Amazon.com Inc. AMZN has been a significant backer of Anthropic, committing $4 billion in November. This investment, structured as a convertible note, will convert to equity at the current valuation. Anthropic's annualized revenue has reached approximately $875 million, primarily from business sales. Why It Matters: Anthropic's latest fundraising efforts come on the heels of its strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services and Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR. This collaboration aims to provide its Claude A.I. models to U.S. defense and intelligence agencies. The partnership underscores a growing trend where AI companies are increasingly aligning with government sectors to leverage their technologies for national security purposes. This move positions Anthropic as a more safety-conscious alternative to competitors like Microsoft Corp MSFT-backed OpenAI. Meanwhile, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that the company is operating at a loss on its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription plan. While the plan was introduced to generate revenue, it hasn't met profit expectations due to higher-than-anticipated usage. Read More: Cathie Wood's Tuesday Double Dump: Ark Invest Trims Both Palantir And Bitcoin ETF Holdings Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Anthropic expected to reach $60B valuation after funding deal: WSJ

AI firm Anthropic is reportedly in talks to raise $2 billion -- a deal that would put the company's valuation at roughly $60 billion. According to a Jan. 7 Wall Street Journal report, Lightspeed Venture Partners is leading a funding round for the OpenAI rival. Anthropic was valued at $18 billion in December 2023, suggesting that the AI firm's valuation could have risen by more than 233% in 12 months. Two of the Big Four tech companies -- Amazon and Google -- made multibillion-dollar investments in Anthropic in 2023 and 2024. Cointelegraph reached out to Anthropic regarding details of the deal but did not receive a response at the time of publication. Related: Vitalik Buterin suggests AI hardware pause for humanity's safety Founded in 2021 by former members of OpenAI, Anthropic went on to publicly release its version of an AI-powered large language model (LLM) called Claude in 2023. The LLM rivals OpenAI's ChatGPT, which the firm launched in 2022. Are the robots coming for us? Attention around artificial intelligence software surged in recent years as many speculated the industry could make certain jobs obsolete. One of the AI firms' goals is to develop systems demonstrating artificial general intelligence (AGI). According to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, AI could exceed human capabilities as early as 2026 based on the progression of the technology. In one of his first messages for 2025, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman made similar predictions, suggesting that AI agents could "join the workforce" and "materially change the output of companies" in the next 12 months.