Anthropic, a leading AI company backed by Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL Google, has raised $3.5 billion in a Series E funding round, bringing its valuation to $61.5 billion.
What Happened: The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, D1 Capital Partners, Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, General Catalyst, Jane Street, and Fidelity Management & Research Company, the company announced on Monday.
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Why It’s Important: Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic initially sought to raise $2 billion but exceeded expectations with an oversubscribed round, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the discussion.
The company’s revenue run rate has grown by 30% this year.
The investment follows previous backing from Amazon, which invested an additional $4 billion in November, and Google, which contributed $1 billion in January.
Last week, Anthropic introduced an upgraded version of its AI model Sonnet, along with a new agent designed to automate software coding tasks.
Meanwhile, SoftBank Group is reportedly in discussions to lead a new funding round for ChatGPT-maker OpenAI. The deal could raise $40 billion and value the company at $300 billion, marking a record for private company funding.
Elon Musk’s xAI hit a $50 billion valuation in November 2024. Perplexity AI, backed by Jeff Bezos, secured $500 million in December, reaching a $9 billion valuation.
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