Anthropic is in advanced talks to raise up to $10 billion in a new round of financing. This would significantly strengthen the AI startup’s position in the market and boost its valuation.
This is according to Bloomberg. According to insiders, the company initially aimed for $5 billion. However, strong demand from investors led to a doubling of the targeted capital. Negotiations are still ongoing. The final size of the round may still change.
The round is being led by Iconiq Capital. Parties such as TPG, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Spark Capital, and Menlo Ventures are also mentioned as investors. In addition, talks have been held with the Qatar Investment Authority and the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC about possible participation.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and develops the Claude models, a series of generative AI systems used for software development, debugging, and workflow automation, among other things. The technology is gaining popularity among developers in particular. It is increasingly being integrated into development environments and productivity platforms.
Fierce competition
The new funding should enable the company to accelerate model development, expand its infrastructure, and achieve international growth. Anthropic is thus preparing for fiercer competition from players such as OpenAI and xAI. These two companies also raised billions in new capital this year. For customers and developers, this could lead to faster improvements in AI applications and wider availability of advanced models.
Earlier this year, Anthropic was valued at $61.5 billion after a $3.5 billion round led by Lightspeed. In total, the company has raised $14.3 billion in twelve rounds to date. With the upcoming mega deal, the valuation could rise to $170 billion or more, one of the biggest jumps for an AI startup to date.