Anthropic is nearing a deal to raise as much as $5 billion in a new round of funding that would value the artificial intelligence startup at $170 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Investment firm Iconiq Capital is leading the round, which is expected to total between $3 billion and $5 billion, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private information. Iconiq is in talks to invest about $1 billion in the deal, some of the people said.
Anthropic has also been in discussions with the Qatar Investment Authority and Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC about participating in the round, the person said. Other potential investors include Amazon.com Inc., which previously bet billions on the company.
As the most recent funding talks came together, Anthropic’s sales have surged. The company was generating about $4 billion in annual recurring revenue earlier this month, Bloomberg previously reported. By the end of July, that number had climbed to about $5 billion, according to one of the people. The company expects its recurring revenue could hit $9 billion by the end of this year.
The new financing would mark a significant jump in valuation for the company and cement its status as one of the world’s leading AI developers. Anthropic was valued at $61.5 billion in a $3.5 billion round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners earlier this year.
Lightspeed is also participating in the new round, according to a person familiar with the matter. Other VCs in talks to participate include Menlo Ventures and Alkeon Capital Management.
The company is taking checks no smaller than $200 million in the deal. The financing may ultimately involve a second lead investor, one person said. The discussions are still being finalized and the details could change.
Anthropic, Iconiq, GIC, Lightspeed, Amazon and Menlo Ventures declined to comment. Representatives for QIA and Alkeon did not immediately respond to requests for comment
Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former employees of OpenAI, has positioned itself as a reliable, safety-conscious firm that users can trust. The new funding will fuel Anthropic’s competition with OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI, each of which has raised billions in capital this year to finance their investments in data centers and talent for building AI models.
OpenAI was most recently valued at $300 billion, including money raised. Musk is said to be seeking a valuation of as much as $200 billion for xAI.
Leading large-language model developers like OpenAI and xAI have previously turned to deep-pocketed Middle Eastern backers such as Abu Dhabi’s MGX for funding. Sovereign wealth funds typically have far more assets at their disposal to invest than traditional venture capital firms.
In a recent memo to employees, first reported by Wired, Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei acknowledged the need to raise funds from the Middle East after having previously voiced concerns about taking money from authoritarian countries. “Unfortunately, I think ‘No bad person should ever benefit from our success’ is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on,” he wrote.
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