Led by former OpenAI execs and backed by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, AI tech startup Anthropic is in late-stage talks to raise up to US$2 billion at a $60 billion valuation, according to a person familiar with the matter, CNBC reports.
Anthropic is the creator of AI chatbot Claude, heavily used in customer service, sales and marketing and has been so far backed by Amazon to the tune of $8 billion, while Google has committed $2 billion into the tech unicorn.
With an annual revenue of $875 million, Anthropic’s models are deployed both directly and through third-party platforms, including Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The latest round of funding is said to be backed by current investor and venture capitalist Lightspeed, as Anthropic looks to become a major player in the generative AI arms race that’s heating up between tech giants OpenAI, Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft.
Generative AI is set to become a trillion dollar industry by 2030, and according to analysis by McKinsey, AI software and services combined have a total economic potential of $15.5-$22.9 trillion annually by 2040.
To put that into context, the total United States GDP was $28 trillion in 2024.
Venture capital investment in AI startups in the U.S. was $97 billion in last year, according to PitchBook, accounting for nearly half of all VC investments that year.
