AI start-up Anthropic eyes $3.5B funding at $61.5B valuation
What's the story
Anthropic, an AI start-up, is looking to raise $3.5 billion in a funding round that could value the company at $61.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. The funding round could see investment from leading venture capital firms like Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Bessemer Venture Partners. If successful, this round would exceed the company's previous target of raising $2 billion, as reported by Reuters last month.
Funding trends
AI start-ups attract significant capital
The interest in Anthropic's funding round is indicative of a larger trend of massive VC investment in AI-related start-ups. Nearly half of all funding Dollars raised last year in the US went to these companies, emphasizing how promising this fast-growing tech sector is. Even with competition from China's cheaper alternative DeepSeek, US-based AI start-ups such as Anthropic remain a hot favorite among investors.
Company growth
Anthropic's journey and market position
Anthropic, OpenAI's main competitor in the foundation model arena, was founded by ex-Sam Altman-led start-up executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei. Last year, the firm was valued at around $18 billion in a Menlo Ventures-led funding round. Yesterday, Anthropic launched an advanced AI model called Claude 3.7 Sonnet that can either generate faster responses or display its step-by-step reasoning process.