Anthropic PBC is expected to close its latest funding round as soon as next week, with investments potentially exceeding $30 billion at a valuation above $900 billion, according to a Bloomberg report Friday. The financing would make the Claude maker the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup, surpassing rival OpenAI.
Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Altimeter Capital and Greenoaks Capital Partners are set to co-lead the round, with each firm planning to invest approximately $2 billion, the report said. Existing investors including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and General Catalyst are also expected to participate.
The commitments are still being finalized and terms could change. The round came together within weeks after Anthropic began discussions earlier this month, following inbound proposals received in late April.
Anthropic expects to report $10.9 billion in revenue for the second quarter, more than double the previous three-month period, Bloomberg News reported. The company is on pace for its first profitable quarter.
The startup has reportedly informed investors that its annualized run rate revenue will exceed $50 billion by the end of next month. This represents substantial growth from a $4 billion run rate in July last year.
At a conference this month, Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei said the firm experienced 80 times growth in annualized revenue and usage in the first quarter of this year. The startup is working to secure additional computing resources to support its services, he said.
Anthropic has arranged a nearly $45 billion deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX and a $1.8 billion agreement with Akamai Technologies Inc. to expand computing capacity. The company has also secured chips and cloud services from Alphabet Inc.'s Google.
OpenAI was most recently valued at $852 billion in a funding round completed in March.
source https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/anthropic-set-to-close-30-billion-funding-at-over-900-billion-valuation-4707383
