US-based AI startup and a rival to OpenAI, Anthropic, is eyeing $750 million funding at a valuation of as much as $18.4 billion, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told CNBC.
The funding round will be led by Menlo Ventures and it would value the OpenAI rival, founded by ex-OpenAI employees, at 4.5 times the startup’s $4.1 billion valuation earlier this year. The news was first reported by The Information, but Anthropic has declined a request to comment. Menlo has yet to respond as well.
According to insider sources who chose to remain anonymous, the funding deal with Silicon Valley venture capital firm Menlo Ventures is yet to be finalized. The sources asked not to be identified as the information is not yet public.
Even before this deal, Anthropic has been highly successful in the past when it comes to funding deals as tech giants including Amazon and Google alike have come to its aid. Search engine giant Google, a subsidiary belonging to Alphabet Inc, pledged $2 billion for the AI startup earlier this year. Meanwhile, the e-commerce industry leader Amazon invested as much as $4 billion into the Anthropic.
Both of these investments were made in the form of convertible notes, which are debt instruments that can be converted into equity during the startup’s forthcoming funding phase.
As mentioned earlier, Anthropic was founded by ex-OpenAI employees who parted ways with the latter due to diverging views on business strategy. The company has since developed Claude, a conversational AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT, but with more emphasis on security. This means that Claude goes the extra mile to mitigate potential risks associated with AI technologies.
Further, it operates as a public-benefit corporation, underscoring its commitment to serving broader societal interests. Additionally, its governance includes a unique element: the Long-Term Benefit Trust, which is managed by five members who are financially uninvolved with the company, providing a distinct layer of oversight separate from its corporate board.
Anthropic was also able to join hands with Google over a major cloud agreement earlier this year, allowing the AI startup to use Google’s suite of cloud computing services. According to people familiar with the matter, this deal with Google is far more valuable to Anthropic and will stretch over multiple years.
