Anthropic, a ChatGPT rival with its AI assistant Claude, is nearing the close of a new $5 billion funding round that would value it at a staggering $170 billion, per Bloomberg.
Iconiq Capital is believed to be leading the round, with a potential investment of about $1 billion. Anthropic has also reportedly been in discussions with the Qatar Investment Authority and Singaporeโs sovereign fund GIC about participating in the round alongside potentially existing backer Amazon.
San Francisco-based Anthropic was last valued at $61.5 billion when it raised $3.5 billion in March, compared to an $18.5 billion valuation in February 2024. So in fewer than 18 months, Anthropic will have increased its valuation by 9x.
The latest round would value Anthropic at more than Elon Muskโs xAI, which was estimated to be valued at $113 billion after merging with social media platform X.
However, the new round values Anthropic well behind OpenAI, which in late March raised $40 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank at a $300 billion valuation.
Overall, Anthropic will have secured $25.7 billion in funding, including debt financing, since its January 2021 inception, per Crunchbase data. Other existing backers include General Catalyst, Menlo Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Google and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
Itโs been a busy week for Iconiq Capital, which is also believed to be leading a $200 million round at a valuation of more than $4.5 billion into San Francisco-based Quince, an affordable luxury brand online retailer.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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