Sequoia Capital Joins Anthropic's $25B Funding Round, Breaking Traditional VC Rules

Sequoia to Join Funding Round for AI Startup Anthropic, FT Says

Sequoia Capital is planning a "big investment" in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup behind the chatbot Claude, according to the Financial Times. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former employees of OpenAI, is aiming to raise at least $25 billion via the funding round in a deal that values the company at $350 billion, the FT reported, citing people it didn't name. GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, and Coatue Management, are contributing $1.5 billion each, it said. Deliberations are on and the amount could change, the FT said, adding the funding round is expected to close in the next few weeks. Sequoia, GIC, Coatue and Anthropic declined to comment, the FT said. The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News reported earlier in January that Anthropic is raising $10 billion at a valuation of $350 billion, with GIC and Coatue planning to lead the new round. Microsoft Corp. and Nvidia Corp. had previously said they will invest up to a combined $15 billion in Anthropic.

Sequoia to join GIC, Coatue in Anthropic investment, FT reports

Venture capital firm Sequoia is joining Singapore's GIC and U.S. investor Coatue in a funding round for Anthropic, which aims to raise $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC, and Coatue will contribute $1.5 billion each for the Claude chatbot-maker, the newspaper said. Sequoia, Anthropic, GIC and Coatue did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Last year, Anthropic secured commitments from Microsoft and Nvidia totaling up to $15 billion. Insatiable demand for AI and growing enterprise adoption have driven tech spending higher globally, pushing valuations of AI startups like Anthropic to record levels, even as concerns about an AI bubble loom. Anthropic last raised $13 billion in a Series F round that valued the company at $183 billion, the company said in early September.

Sequoia joins Anthropic's $25B funding round valued at $350B

Venture capital powerhouse Sequoia Capital is preparing to invest in Anthropic, the AI startup best known for its Claude family of large language models, in one of the largest private funding rounds in tech this year. The deal is being led by Singapore's GIC and U.S. investor Coatue, each contributing roughly $1.5 billion, as part of a planned raise of $25 billion or more at a staggering $350 billion valuation. This move stands out for two reasons: the size and speed of the valuation surge and the fact that Sequoia, already an investor in rival AI builders such as OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, is broadening its exposure across competing AI platforms. Traditionally, top-tier VC firms have avoided backing direct competitors simultaneously. The logic was simple: protect information flows and avoid internal conflicts of interest. Sequoia's willingness to back Anthropic despite existing stakes in other AI outfits signals a shift in how investors view the AI market. It reflects a belief that the sector is large enough to support multiple winners rather than requiring firms to choose a single champion. Anthropic itself has grown quickly since its founding by former OpenAI researchers. Industry reporting shows the company has attracted significant talent from established AI labs and introduced advanced models and enterprise features, contributing to its rapid valuation climb over the past year. A $350 billion valuation, even before a public listing, is eye-watering. It resets expectations for what private AI companies can command and puts pressure on competitors to secure equally large capital backing or risk falling behind. Analysts suggest that few AI firms may go public at these valuations, pointing instead to continued private rounds or alternative exit strategies if market sentiment shifts. That dynamic is a symptom of a broader trend: a global AI capital rush that has persisted even amid concerns about a bust cycle or a funding slowdown in other tech segments. Investors remain convinced that AI will reshape industries from software to logistics, health care, and beyond, and are willing to deploy extraordinary sums to secure influence in that future. For European markets and founders, the Sequoia-Anthropic deal carries both opportunities and warnings. Europe has strong academic AI talent, an active startup ecosystem, and deep expertise in areas like robotics, industrial automation, and data privacy. Yet venture capital density still trails the U.S., and marquee AI funding rounds of this scale are rare on the continent. This investment could accelerate European interest in AI startups, drawing more attention and potentially more capital into the region. It reinforces the idea that global capital flows are not limited by geography and that talent mobility, not territory, increasingly defines the AI race. European AI talent has been moving among global hubs, and deals like this underline how strongly competitive pressures are shaping that movement. At the same time, the concentration of huge capital in a few dominant players raises strategic questions for European policymakers and investors. If global valuations continue to centralise power and resources in U.S. and Asia-based AI giants, Europe's AI initiatives may struggle to build regional champions with equivalent scale. Efforts to foster AI ecosystems, from regulatory clarity to public funding mechanisms, will be tested in the face of such capital dynamics. Sequoia's bet on Anthropic, despite its exposure to rivals, underscores a fundamental truth about where the AI race is headed: talent and execution matter more than regional advantage. For European startups, this means honing in on distinctive technical niches, enterprise traction, and real-world impact rather than simply following headline valuations. The Anthropic round may be a moment of spectacle, but its lasting impact will be measured in how ecosystems evolve, how talent flows, and how global competition shapes opportunities for innovation across borders. European players can benefit from these trends, but only if they leverage their own strengths in research, ethics-led deployment, and deep industry partnerships.

AI is Redrawing VC Rules as Investors Hedge Bets Against Rival Startups | AIM

As AI reshapes markets, VC firms like Sequoia Capital are backing rival startups, raising fresh questions. Sequoia Capital's decision to invest in Anthropic marks a departure from the traditional venture capital rulebook and is being viewed as the death of the 'one winner' venture capital model. Historically, VCs have avoided backing rival companies in the same sector, preferring to bet on a single winner. Yet Sequoia -- already an investor in OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI -- has now added Anthropic to its portfolio. It is not alone in breaking this long-standing taboo and hedging bets against its portfolio companies in the same sector. Andreessen Horowitz, which recently raised $15 billion to expand investments across infrastructure, healthcare and defence, has backed OpenAI, xAI, and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence (SSI). Fidelity and Ark Invest have invested in both OpenAI and xAI, while Sound Ventures and Wisdom Ventures both hold stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic. Sequoia itself invested in OpenAI in 2021 and later backed SSI in September 2024.

Sequoia Capital planning 'big investment' in Anthropic - FT

It is the VC that moved early to back the likes of Google, Apple and Stripe. Now reports suggest Sequoia Capital want in on Anthropic's next big investment round. As reported earlier in January, Anthropic is in the process of raising a major investment round that could double its valuation from $170bn four months ago, to $350bn. Now it would appear that Silicon Valley's venture capital heavyweight, Sequoia Capital, could be part of this round, led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, and Coatue. Founded in 2021 by Open AI alumni and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, Anthropic has a stated mission to build on the principles of responsible AI. Since its inception, it has vied to become the reliable choice for enterprise, as well as power users and developers, and said in September that it now serves more than 300,000 business customers, while its number of large accounts - customers that each represent over $100,000 in run-rate revenue - had grown nearly sevenfold in the past year. To date Sequoia had invested in rivals OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, so this would represent a major bet on AI, despite some concerns around an AI bubble. Other investors in this round are Nvidia and Microsoft, who have committed to invest some $15bn between them into Anthropic. In the past VCs have tended to pick winners in their sectors, rather than invest in all the big players, but AI appears to have changed all that. Just last week, Anthropic launched Cowork, a simpler version of Claude Code for non-coding related tasks. According to the tech giant, this new model has more agency - it can read, edit and re-organise files, taking on many of same tasks Claude Code can, but in a more "approachable" form. Cowork is designed to make using Claude for work easier, Anthropic said. The new model does not require human users to continuously input manual context, and queries can be queued up in the system. "It feels much less like a back-and-forth and much more like leaving messages for a co-worker," a statement from the company said, announcing the launch on 12 January. The new model was built in less than two weeks using Claude Code, Boris Cherny, the creator and head of Claude Code at Anthropic claimed at the time. 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.

OpenAI backer Sequoia Capital in talks to join Anthropic's proposed $25B mega round - SiliconANGLE

OpenAI backer Sequoia Capital in talks to join Anthropic's proposed $25B mega round Sequoia Capital is set to join Coatue and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC in a blockbuster, multibillion-dollar round in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic PBC, as part of a funding deal that's sure to raise eyebrows among Silicon Valley investors. It's a surprising move by Sequoia because venture capital firms traditionally avoid backing competitors in the same industries, preferring to bet on a single winner to emerge. However, Sequoia has already thrown millions of dollars at both OpenAI Group PBC and Elon Musk's xAI Corp., and is now eying a piece of a third major player in AI. The investment may also carry a certain amount of risk for Sequoia, given what OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said during testimony as part of his defense against a lawsuit filed by Musk against him and his company. At the trial last year, Altman talked about certain restrictions that were imposed on investors in his company's 2024 funding round. He explained that investors are not prohibited from backing rival AI firms, but those who do so and have ongoing access to OpenAI's confidential information could have that access terminated. According to Altman, it's an "industry standard" protection put in place to protect the company against sensitive information being used against it. In any case, the Financial Times reported that Sequoia is on the verge of joining a mega-funding round led by GIC and Coatue, who will each stump up $1.5 billion for Anthropic. The OpenAI rival is aiming to raise up to $25 billion in the round, which suggests that it could involve a fair few other investors, and that it would increase its valuation to a cool $350 billion once complete. That would be more than double the $170 billion valuation it announced just four months earlier, when it raised $13 billion. Sequoia's earlier investment in xAI can be explained by the fact that the VC firm is already one of Musk's biggest financial backers. It previously invested in X Corp. when Musk bought the company, formerly known as Twitter Inc. It's also one of the biggest investors in SpaceX Corp. and The Boring Company, as well as Musk's brain interface technology startup Neuralink. Still, the investment in Anthropic may irk Altman more, considering that the OpenAI founder has deep connections with Sequoia. The VC firm was one of the original backers of Altman's first startup Loopt Inc., which offered location sharing services for early smartphone users. Altman later worked for Sequoia as a "scout" and helped introduce the firm to Stripe Inc., which later became one of the most valuable companies in its portfolio. Sequoia's move is all the more curious considering that it has previously stuck pretty firmly to the policy of not investing in competitors. In 2020, the VC walked away from its $21 million investment in the payments provider Finix Payments Inc., giving up the money, the shares it had acquired and all rights relating to the company, after deciding it was too competitive with Stripe. Clearly though, the AI industry opportunity is a different kettle of fish and Sequoia seems to have opted for a completely different approach. One anonymous source told the Financial Times that it ultimately thinks OpenAI and Anthropic will head in different directions, catering to different aspects of the AI market, hence it doesn't believe it makes sense to try and back only one winner. There's also the fact that Anthropic, best known for its chatbot Claude, is beginning to raise some serious money to consider. In December, it said its revenue had grown more than ten-times in the last year to over $10 billion annually. That suggests rampant growth, even for a company operating in an industry that's scaling as quickly as AI. Should it really invest in Anthropic, Sequoia may not have to wait long for an exit. Last year it was reported that the AI firm had hired the law company Wilson Sonsini to begin working on an initial public offering, and it's also said to be talking with a number of banks about the same thing. If everything goes to plan, Anthropic could go public later this year, on roughly the same timeline as OpenAI itself.

Sequoia Capital joins Anthropic's $350 billion funding round

Sequoia Capital has reportedly joined a funding round for AI startup Anthropic, which created the Claude model, according to the Financial Times. This investment follows Sequoia's existing stakes in OpenAI and xAI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated last year under oath that investors with ongoing access to OpenAI's confidential information would face termination of that access if they made non-passive investments in OpenAI's competitors. He described this restriction as an "industry standard" protection against the misuse of competitively sensitive information. Anthropic, which develops the Claude model, is targeting a raise of $25 billion or more at a $350 billion valuation. This valuation marks an increase from its $170 billion valuation four months prior. Singapore's GIC and U.S. investor Coatue are leading the round, each contributing $1.5 billion. Microsoft and Nvidia have committed up to $15 billion combined, with venture capitalists and other investors expected to provide an additional $10 billion or more. Earlier reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg had indicated a $10 billion target for the round. Sequoia's investment in xAI has been viewed as strengthening ties with Elon Musk, rather than solely as a bet against OpenAI. Sequoia has invested in X, SpaceX, The Boring Company, and Neuralink. Michael Moritz, a former Sequoia leader, was an early investor in Musk's X.com, which became part of PayPal. In 2020, Sequoia divested from payments company Finix, forfeiting its $21 million investment, board seat, information rights, and shares. The firm's exit occurred after it concluded Finix competed with Stripe, another Sequoia portfolio company. The reported investment in Anthropic follows recent leadership changes at Sequoia. Roelof Botha, the firm's global steward, was succeeded by Alfred Lin and Pat Grady.

Sequoia Breaks Ranks to Back Anthropic in $25 Bn Mega Round: Report | AIM

Sequoia Capital already holds stakes in Anthropic rivals OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI In a head-turning move, Sequoia Capital is set to join Anthropic's cap table in a $25-billion funding round that will also see participation from Singapore's GIC and US investor Coatue, the Financial Times reported. The investment would value the artificial intelligence startup at $350 billion -- more than double its $170 billion valuation just four months ago. Sequoia's participation marks a notable shift from its traditional strategy. Venture capital firms typically avoid backing direct competitors, yet Sequoia already holds stakes in OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI, both rivals to Anthropic. Its investment in xAI, however, is widely seen less as a bet against OpenAI and more as an extension of its long-standing relationship with Musk. Sequoia also backed X when Musk acquired Twitter and rebranded the platform. The $25 billion figure includes earlier commitments, with GIC and Coatue each planning to invest $1.5 billion. In late 2025, Microsoft and Nvidia pledged up to $15 billion to the company, while Anthropic also raised $13 billion in a Series F round in September last year, led by Fidelity, ICONIQ, and Lightspeed. The company plans to deploy the capital to develop more advanced AI systems and expand its technical infrastructure. Anthropic reported sharp financial growth through 2025, with annualised revenue rising from $1 billion at the start of the year to $9 billion by December. The surge followed the success of its Claude chatbot, new tools for software developers, and the launch of specialised AI products for healthcare and financial services. The company is also said to be preparing for a potential initial public offering, having consulted legal and financial advisers about a possible listing. The funding round is expected to close in the coming weeks, and would rank among the largest private investments ever made in the technology sector. The investment also highlights how funding is concentrated around a handful of leading AI companies, as soaring computing costs and fierce competition push investors towards scale players with proven products and revenues.

After backing OpenAI and xAI, Sequoia set to back another rival, Anthropic - The Economic Times

Sequoia Capital is joining the group of investors funding artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic, valuing the company at $350 billion, according to a report in the Financial Times. Sequoia's portfolio already includes OpenAI and xAI. All three companies are direct rivals. Anthropic's funding round is being led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and US investor Coatue. Each fund will contribute $1.5 billion to Anthropic's raise, which is targeting $25 billion or more. The round is expected to double the Claude-maker's $183 billion valuation from September's Series F round. Breaking tradition Venture capital funds usually pick one winner in a sector and have historically avoided investing in competing companies. Sequoia's investment also goes against its 2020 precedent, when it forfeited a $21 million investment in fintech app Finix, due to a conflict of interest with its portfolio company Stripe. Back then, Sequoia gave up its board seat, information rights, and shares, leaving Finix with no-strings-attached capital. This may also not sit well with OpenAI. In a sworn statement in 2025, CEO Sam Altman spoke about restrictions in the company's 2024 funding round. He denied that investors were prohibited from backing rivals but also noted that those with ongoing access to OpenAI's confidential information would not have it "if they made non-passive investments in OpenAI's competitors". "That restriction is necessary to protect against the misuse of OpenAI's competitively-sensitive information, and I understand it is industry standard for that reason," Altman told a judge. Sequoia is also undergoing some top-deck changes. Managing partner Roelof Botha was pushed out in a surprise vote in November 2025, with partners Alfred Lin and Pat Grady taking over. Notably, Grady had led the Finix deal that Sequoia ultimately abandoned over competitive concerns. Sequoia's connection to Altman runs deep. When Altman left Stanford to start Loopt, Sequoia backed him. He later became a "scout" for the firm, introducing Sequoia to Stripe. Lin has interviewed Altman numerous times at Sequoia events, and when Altman was briefly ousted from OpenAI in November 2023, Lin publicly said he would eagerly back Altman's "next world-changing company". Anthropic's growing war chest The latest funding round for Anthropic comes after commitments from Microsoft and Nvidia, which pledged up to $15 billion combined to the company in 2025. As part of the deal, Anthropic said it would purchase $30 billion in compute capacity from Microsoft's Azure cloud services. The company is broadening its global footprint as well, with its Bengaluru office scheduled to open in February. It roped in former Microsoft India head Irina Ghose as its India MD. CEO Dario Amodei is set to visit India next month to open the India headquarters and attend the government-organised India AI Impact Summit.

Sequoia Capital To Join $25 Billion Funding Round for Anthropic, After OpenAI, xAI: Report - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

Sequoia Capital is reportedly preparing a significant investment in AI startup Anthropic, marking its first contribution to a funding round expected to raise tens of billions of dollars. Sequoia Could Join $25 Billion Anthropic Round The renowned venture capital firm is joining a funding round led by GIC, the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund, and US investor Coatue. Each of these entities is contributing $1.5 billion, reported the Financial Times on Sunday. The funding round is expected to bring in over $25 billion, setting Anthropic's valuation at $350 billion, more than twice its $170 billion valuation from just four months ago. Tech giants Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) have pledged to invest up to $15 billion in total into the AI startup, with other investors contributing an additional $10 billion or more. Sequoia's previous investments in AI include OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI. Notably, the decision to invest in Anthropic comes after the departure of Roelof Botha, who was cautious about the high concentration of VC investment in a few highly valued startups. Anthropic Eyes Over 2026 IPO Anthropic's valuation has been a topic of interest. The startup is reportedly planning an IPO in 2026, while also negotiating a funding round that could push its valuation above $300 billion. The company's projected IPO and its valuation have been viewed as a potential indicator of the AI market's true value. Despite the concerns about a potential bubble, Anthropic is targeting $20 billion-$26 billion in annual revenue in 2026. Anthropic is shifting focus from experimental use to developer tools and Claude-powered business workflows, aiming to convert hype into recurring, long-term revenue instead of short-term, churn-prone usage. Meanwhile, November reports suggested that Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) was planning a major investment in Anthropic, potentially valuing it over $350 billion. The deal, still under negotiation, could take the form of added cloud services, a convertible note, or a priced funding round early 2026. Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. GOOGAlphabet Inc$329.85-0.15%OverviewGOOGLAlphabet Inc$329.55-0.14%MSFTMicrosoft Corp$460.700.18%NVDANVIDIA Corp$186.250.01%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Sequoia Capital Makes a U-Turn on Anthropic; Are VCs Hedging Their Bets on AI?

These reports fly in the face of what Sam Altman had claimed was a conflict of interest last year. Makes us wonder what has changed now? All this talk about the AI bubble and how things could go south in the bat of an eyelid appears to have taken a toll on Silicon Valley investors. How else can one explain the about-turn by Sequoia Capital, which funded both OpenAI and xAI in the past, and is now betting on Anthropic? Per a report published by the Financial Times, the company is reportedly on the cusp of joining a blockbuster funding round of Anthropic, which incidentally has Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia already as tech partners and GIC, Lightspeed, Fidelity among their significant investors. We aren't sure how much of this move, if proven to be accurate, is related to the major leadership changes at Sequoia, which had shunted out global boss Roelof Botha last year and replaced him with Alfred Lin and Pat Grady. Readers would recall that Botha was in the eye of a few storms that includes Islamophobic posts against Zohran Mamdani, disputes with other partners and missing major AI opportunities. With reports of Anthropic aiming for a major IPO this year, the powers that be at Sequoia are moving away from the Botha mantra of staying away from competing companies in the same sector. That such a strategy was considered as par for the course among Silicon Valley VCs for other sectors in the past is also something to be noted. In fact, a report from two weeks ago by CNBC claimed that the markets expect 2026 to be the year of the mega IPOs where SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic could be collectively vying for investor attention. The total valuation of the above three companies stood at a staggering $1.65 trillion if these fund raises go through. Maybe Sequoia is just suffering a bout of FOMO or... The FT report now suggests that Sequoia could be joining the next round of funding for Anthropic led by Singapore's GIS and US investor Coatue, each pumping in about $1.5 billion in a round to raise $25 billion at a $350 billion valuation. Currently, Anthropic is valued at about $170 billion. Per the report, while Microsoft and Nvidia have committed $15 billion, the VCs and other investors could bring in the remaining $10 billion. However, the intrigue doesn't even begin here. Last year OpenAI's Sam Altman had sworn under oath during a hearing on Elon Musk's lawsuit denied that his investors weren't allowed to back rivals. But, he also revealed some investors with access to OpenAI's confidential information could be terminated for making "non-passive investments in OpenAI's competitors." ... Is there something they've agreed upon with Altman? Given Sequoia's long association with Altman, right from his Loopt days when he dropped out from Stanford to startup a company, what exactly does their about-turn signify? In the same testification, Altman had described moves to invest in rivals as going against the grain of "industry standard" protection against misuse of sensitive information. Does this mean that OpenAI has had a change of heart? Or is it just Sam Altman having one? Back in the days, it was Altman who introduced Stripe to Sequoia, which eventually became one of their most valuable companies. Also, Alfred Lin has time and again interviewed Altman at Sequoia events like this one, suggesting that the duo shared a special bond. That Lin had backed Altman in the latter's dark days following his ouster from OpenAI back in November 2023 is also not lost on us. If Anthropic is competition, what about xAI? The second part of this intrigue stems from Sequoia's investment in xAI, a company floated by Altman's friend-turned-foe Elon Musk. Didn't this move contradict the industry standard that the OpenAI boss waxed eloquent about? Or was it just a case of timing as Sequoia invested in xAI just to carry forward their close association with Musk. Maybe they saw xAI as a means to get closer to Musk than as an actual competitor to OpenAI at that time (we aren't sure that the two compete even today). Readers would recall that Sequoia invested in Musk's rebranding of Twitter as X after pumping in money into both SpaceX and The Boring Company. Former Sequoia partner Michael Moritz had invested early into X.com, which then became part of PayPal. There's more to it than meets the eye All of this intrigue is what makes the sudden about turn by Sequoia not much of one. Seems to be another case of internecine prop-ups that companies in the AI space have indulged in over the past twelve months or so. Makes us wonder if there's more than what meets the eye. Especially when you consider that Sequoia is the very same entity that took a $21 million dollar hit by walking away from payments company Finix upon realising that it was a competitor to its own portfolio company Stripe. They left the money while giving up their stake and a position on the board. If conflict of interest is so close to Sequoia's heart, what cause this change of heart? Time will tell.