Anthropic PBC and Google LLC, is reportedly in discussions to secure $750 million in new funding with a proposed valuation of $15 billion.
Anthropic PBC, an artificial intelligence startup supported by Amazon.com Inc. and Google LLC, is reportedly in discussions to secure $750 million in new funding with a proposed valuation of $15 billion.
The funding round is expected to be led by Menlo Ventures Management L.P. While the $15 billion valuation is under consideration, reports suggest that the final deal valuation could potentially surpass $18 billion. As of now, neither Anthropic nor Menlo Ventures has officially commented on the ongoing discussions.
Founded in 2020 by former researchers from OpenAI LP, Anthropic specializes in developing generative artificial intelligence software. The company’s latest model, Claude 2, is positioned to rival OpenAI’s GPT-4. Claude 2 exhibits capabilities such as generating marketing copy, solving mathematical problems, and translating natural language prompts into software code.
Notably, Claude 2 distinguishes itself from competitors in the AI market by its ability to process prompts containing 100,000 tokens, a unit in AI representing characters and numbers. In contrast, GPT-4 can handle only 8,000 tokens, giving Claude 2 a higher capacity to summarize lengthy documents that other large language models struggle to process.
Anthropic’s Funding Journey:
If the new funding round materializes, it will mark another significant milestone in Anthropic’s funding journey. The company initiated its funding efforts with a $124 million Series A round in May 2021, which included notable individual investors such as former Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Subsequent funding rounds for Anthropic PBC include:
- $580 million Series B (April 2022): Led by Sam Bankman-Fried, the former head of FTX Trading Ltd., this round included participation from the Center for Emerging Risk Research and various individual investors.
- $300 million from Google (March 2023): Google invested in Anthropic at a $4.1 billion valuation.
- $450 million Series C (May 2023): Led by Spark Capital, this round included participation from Zoom Video Communications Inc., Salesforce Ventures LLC, Microsoft Corp., HOF Capital LLC, Menlo Ventures, Sound Ventures LLC, Pioneer Fund Inc., Wikus Capital Inc., GG1978 LLC, SV Angel LLC, and Alphabet Inc.
- $1 billion commitment from Sapphire Ventures (June 2023).
- $100 million from SK Telecom (August 2023): The South Korean telecommunications giant joined Anthropic’s list of backers.
- Commitments from Amazon and Google (September and October 2023): Anthropic secured commitments of up to $4 billion from Amazon and up to $2 billion from Google.
The reported funding round comes as Anthropic’s latest model, Claude 2.1, was unveiled in November. The updated chatbot boasts improvements in core features, including enhanced safety measures, a significantly larger context window, and a new third-party tool usage feature.
As artificial intelligence continues to shape various industries, strategic position of Anthropic PBC, backed by major players like Amazon and Google, highlights the industry’s focus on advancing AI capabilities.
The potential funding round, with a valuation reaching into the billions, signifies confidence in Anthropic’s technology and its ability to compete in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. The ongoing discussions add to the anticipation surrounding the future developments and innovations that Anthropic might bring to the forefront of artificial intelligence.