OpenAI rival Anthropic raises $3.5B at a whopping $61.5B valuation
What's the story
Anthropic, a leading player in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, has raised $3.5 billion in its Series E funding round at a $61.5 billion post-money valuation. The fundraiser, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, saw participation from several other investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, General Catalyst, Menlo Ventures and Salesforce Ventures. With this, Anthropic's total fundraising reaches a staggering $18.2 billion according to Crunchbase data.
Growth strategy
Anthropic's plans for the future
In its blog post, Anthropic detailed its future plans after this major investment. The company said it will use the funds to further its development of next-gen AI systems and increase its computational capacity. It also plans to deepen research in mechanistic interpretability and alignment, and accelerate international expansion. The company's mission is to build AI systems that can work with teams on complex projects, synthesize information across disciplines, and help organizations make a significant impact.
New developments
Anthropic's latest AI model and business growth
Anthropic's new fundraising comes on the heels of the launch of its new flagship AI model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet. The "hybrid reasoning" model is designed to consider queries carefully before answering, simplifying user experience around Anthropic's AI products. Last year, the company's annual revenue run rate was about $1 billion, which has seen a 30% increase so far in 2025 from cash flow from API services and subscriptions to its AI chatbot, Claude.
Strategic shifts
Anthropic's focus on profitability and expansion
Despite the revenue growth, Anthropic has projected a burn of $3 billion this year due to high costs of developing its AI systems. To boost profitability, the company is pivoting toward releasing new tools and subscription tiers like computer-using "agents," desktop clients, and mobile apps. Anthropic has also expanded its European presence and made several high-profile hires, including Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, OpenAI co-founder Durk Kingma, and former OpenAI safety researcher Jan Leike.