Компания Anthropic, specializing in artificial intelligence, announced on Thursday that it has raised $65 billion (€55.8 billion) in private investments, resulting in a valuation of $965 billion (€829 billion). Thus, the developer of the chatbot Claude, which has only been around for five years, has positioned itself among the most valuable startups globally, ahead of a potential debut on Wall Street.
РЕКЛАМА
РЕКЛАМА
This announcement positions Anthropic ahead of its main competitor, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, in both market valuation and reported revenue. According to Anthropic, its annual revenue is currently projected at $47 billion (€40.4 billion) from selling technology to individuals and organizations that utilize Claude for coding and handling various work and personal tasks.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic is now expected to join OpenAI and SpaceX, Elon Musk’s aerospace and AI company, in going public. All three continue to spend more than they earn, raising concerns about a bubble in the AI market.
Based in San Francisco, Anthropic reported that the latest funding round was led by investment firms Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Greenoaks Capital, and Sequoia Capital.
«This funding will help us meet the unprecedented demand we are facing, stay at the forefront of research, and make Claude available in even more workplaces,» said Anthropic’s CFO Krishna Rao in a statement.
On Thursday, Anthropic also unveiled its latest AI model, Claude Opus 4.8, claiming it performs even better in programming and other professional tasks compared to previous versions.
An unprecedented growth for Anthropic and the rising popularity of Claude have positioned OpenAI as the follower, despite it being the first to turn ChatGPT into a widely recognized product that sparked a commercial boom around AI.
In March, OpenAI reported that its valuation was approaching $852 billion (€732 billion) after raising $122 billion (€104.8 billion). SpaceX, valued at $800 billion (€680 billion) last year, saw its value increase to $1.25 trillion (€1.06 trillion) following its merger with Musk’s xAI in February.
Musk recently announced plans for one of the largest stock sales in history and could present this offering to investors as early as next week.
OpenAI also overcame a significant hurdle towards a possible initial public offering: last week, a federal court dismissed a lawsuit from Musk, co-founder and one of the early donors, after a lengthy jury trial aimed at determining whether the company had strayed from its original nonprofit mission. Musk has already stated his intention to appeal the decision.
Despite recent successes, Anthropic faced serious challenges this year, particularly a tough legal battle with the Trump administration over how AI tools like Claude could be utilized in military operations.
In February, Trump ordered all U.S. agencies to cease using Claude, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegset declaring the company a risk to supply chains after an unusual public conflict between the Pentagon and CEO Dario Amadei. Anthropic has filed a lawsuit, and the dispute is still ongoing in two federal courts.
At the same time, Anthropic is negotiating with the White House regarding the cybersecurity capabilities and risks associated with its most powerful model, named Mythos, which is currently not available to the public.
Anthropic also played a notable role in the Vatican ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s call on Monday for stringent AI regulations and for developers to work for the common good rather than profit.
The comprehensive manifesto titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), Leo’s first encyclical, repeatedly condemned the concentration of power and data in the hands of a narrow circle of private players as a threat.