Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is in preliminary discussions to more than double its valuation to over $150 billion in a new funding round, as it seeks to strengthen its position against rivals developing advanced AI models.
According to four sources familiar with the matter, Anthropic—founded just four years ago and currently valued at approximately $61.5 billion—is expected to raise at least $3 billion in the upcoming round, with some estimates suggesting the total could reach $5 billion. The discussions have attracted interest from major investors, including sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, particularly MGX, Abu Dhabi’s expansive AI investment vehicle.
While Anthropic has traditionally resisted raising capital directly from Middle Eastern investors—citing ethical concerns—a significant Abu Dhabi state fund connected to MGX acquired nearly $500 million worth of Anthropic shares last year from the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. In an internal memo reported by Wired, CEO Dario Amodei acknowledged the complexity of avoiding investors who may “enrich dictators,” but recognized the difficulty of adhering strictly to this principle while running a global business.
Anthropic has garnered backing from tech giants Google and Amazon. Reports indicate Amazon is considering increasing its stake beyond the current $8 billion commitment, aiming to remain one of the startup’s largest shareholders.
The funding push comes amid a fierce competition in the AI sector, with Anthropic racing against OpenAI, Elon Musk’s xAI, and other Big Tech companies like Google and Meta to develop AI models capable of generating text, code, and images. OpenAI currently leads the market with its ChatGPT chatbot, boasting over 500 million weekly users and a valuation estimated at $300 billion earlier this year. OpenAI is also in the process of raising tens of billions of dollars from investors led by SoftBank, with MGX also involved in partnerships such as the “Stargate” data center project.
Anthropic’s flagship AI model, Claude, has emerged as a notable contender in coding applications—a critical and fast-growing segment of AI use cases. Despite rapid revenue growth, with annualized recurring revenue surging from $1 billion at the start of the year to over $4 billion, primarily driven by business subscriptions, neither Anthropic nor OpenAI is yet profitable. Both companies face massive operational costs from the computing power required to train their models and an escalating war for AI talent, intensified by Meta’s recent offers of compensation packages exceeding $100 million to top researchers.
