Anthropic Valuation: Reportedly Nearing $170B with $5B Round

Anthropic Secures Potential Multi-Billion Dollar Funding

Anthropic, a leading developer of large language models, is reportedly close to securing a substantial funding round. Bloomberg News indicates the potential investment could range from $3 billion to $5 billion.

Valuation Surge

This new funding would significantly elevate Anthropic’s valuation to $170 billion. This represents a near tripling of its previous valuation of $61.5 billion, established in March following a $3.5 billion investment.

Investment Leadership and Participants

Iconiq Capital is currently spearheading the funding effort. Discussions are underway to potentially include a second lead investor in the deal.

Furthermore, Anthropic has engaged in conversations with the Qatar Investment Authority and GIC, the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, as potential investors.

The previous funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, saw participation from a diverse group of investors.

• Bessemer Venture Partners
• Cisco Investments
• D1 Capital Partners
• Fidelity Management & Research Company
• General Catalyst
• Jane Street
• Menlo Ventures
• Salesforce Ventures

Ethical Considerations Regarding Funding Sources

Despite its commitment to responsible AI development, Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, has expressed reservations about accepting funds from certain sources.

A recent internal memo, as reported by Wired, revealed Amodei’s discomfort with receiving capital from sovereign wealth funds associated with authoritarian regimes.

He acknowledged the practical challenges of adhering to a strict principle of excluding any potentially problematic benefactor from benefiting from the company’s success.

The Need for Capital in AI Development

The immense financial demands of developing advanced AI models are driving Anthropic to explore a wider range of funding options. This has led the company to consider investments from Middle Eastern sources.

Anthropic has not yet issued a public response to requests for comment regarding these developments.