Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) startup known as a rival to OpenAI, is expected to raise $25 billion (about 36 trillion won) in funding.
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 18th (local time) that major investors, including the well-known Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) firm Sequoia Capital, are planning a large investment in Anthropic, which operates the AI chatbot "Claude."
Previously, Nvidia and Microsoft (MS) each pledged to invest $10 billion and $5 billion, respectively, for a combined $15 billion in Anthropic.
In this funding round, in addition to Sequoia Capital, Singapore's sovereign wealth funds GIC and U.S. hedge fund Coatue each decided to commit $1.5 billion.
Until now, the AI corporations that raised the most money in a single funding round were OpenAI, which secured $40 billion in March last year, followed by xAI, which raised $20 billion earlier this month. If Anthropic succeeds in raising $25 billion this time, it will surpass xAI.
In the industry, some noted that Sequoia Capital, which has also invested in OpenAI and xAI, backing Anthropic runs counter to the typical investment approach of venture firms. Venture firms generally prefer to pick winners in each field to maximize returns rather than invest in competing companies in the same sector.
However, a source familiar with the matter told the FT that the scale of AI investment has changed this approach. The person said, "The scale of AI investment has grown so large that it has shifted from venture investing to something more like equity investing," adding that regarding competition among AI corporations, Sequoia "expects each to develop its own distinctive role rather than engage in a winner-takes-all fight."
Meanwhile, Anthropic has reportedly appointed the law firm Wilson Sonsini, which has extensive experience in initial public offerings (IPOs), to prepare for a listing.