Anthropic soars to $965bn valuation, leapfrogging OpenAI

Claude maker raises $65bn from investors ahead of expected initial public offering.Anthropic has usurped OpenAI as the world’s most valuable Artificial Intelligence startup, soaring to a $965bn valuation ahead of expected public listings by the rival firms.Anthropic, the maker of the Claude family of chatbots, said on Thursday that it had raised $65bn from private investors after a fundraising round led by Altimeter Capital, Greenoaks, Dragoneer and Sequoia Capital.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Tense protests erupt outside Delaney Hall immigrant detention centre in USlist 2 of 4Iran ambassador hits out at ‘country to the north’ in US World Cup visa rowlist 3 of 4Netanyahu orders Israeli army to seize 70 percent of Gazalist 4 of 4US to designate two Brazilian gangs as ‘terrorist’ organisationsend of listThe announcement catapults Anthropic, led by CEO and cofounder Dario Amodei, ahead of ChatGPT maker OpenAI in value, which attracted an $852bn valuation in its last fundraising round in March.“This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens,” Anthropic’s Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao said in a statement.Altimeter Capital CEO Brad Gerstner hailed the adoption of Claude among the “world’s most demanding organisations” as evidence of Anthropic’s command in the field.“This momentum positions Anthropic to lead the next phase of AI innovation and capture the enormous opportunity ahead,” Gerstner said.Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers, Anthropic has rapidly emerged as one of the leading players in Silicon Valley’s scramble to dominate AI.Anthropic’s Claude, first launched in 2023, is among the most popular AI models worldwide.In March, the San Francisco-based company said that the chatbot was receiving more than 1 million new sign-ups each day.While achieving stellar success in rapid time, Anthropic has also faced challenges – in particular, a high-profile dispute with US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has labelled the firm a “supply chain risk” over its refusal to allow unrestricted access to its tools for military purposes.