Anthropic is reportedly nearing the completion of a $20 billion funding round, which would value the company at $350 billion. This substantial investment, double the initial target, is driven by strong investor interest. The company previously secured $13 billion in equity funding just five months prior, indicating a rapid need for capital due to fierce competition among AI development labs and the high expenses associated with computing resources.
Several prominent firms are anticipated to contribute to this round, such as Altimeter Capital Management, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, Coatue Management, Iconiq Capital, and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. However, the majority of the funding is expected to originate from Anthropic’s key strategic partners, Nvidia and Microsoft.
Anthropic has achieved recent successes, particularly with the introduction of its coding agents, which have been praised by software engineers for boosting productivity. Additionally, the company’s recent launch of new models tailored for legal and business research caused concern among investors in publicly traded data firms, leading to fluctuations in their share prices due to fears of AI’s disruptive potential.
Meanwhile, Anthropic’s competitor, OpenAI, is reportedly organizing a new fundraising round aiming for $100 billion. Both companies are believed to be preparing for initial public offerings (IPOs) in anticipation of a significant market period this summer. xAI, which was recently acquired by SpaceX, is also expected to seek public equity as part of SpaceX’s own IPO.
