Anthropic seeks $10bn funding at $350bn valuation as AI investment fever accelerates

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence start-up founded by former OpenAI employees, is reportedly planning to raise $10 billion at a $350 billion valuation. This valuation represents a doubling of the company’s worth in just four months, following a $13 billion fundraising round completed in September at a $183 billion valuation.

The San Francisco-based company, which developed the Claude AI chatbot, has attracted significant backing from prominent investors. Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund GIC and Coatue Management, a US investment platform, are lined up to lead the anticipated financing round, which is expected to close within the coming weeks.

Anthropic has positioned itself as a safety-focused player in the competitive AI sector. The company claims to serve approximately 300,000 business customers and projects substantial revenue growth for the coming year. Industry analysts forecast the firm could more than double, and potentially nearly triple, its annualised revenue run rate to around $26 billion in the next twelve months.

The company is backed by technology giants Google and Amazon, underscoring the substantial interest major corporations have shown in AI development. Anthropic’s leadership, headed by chief executive Dario Amodei, has indicated that a blockbuster initial public offering could occur as soon as this year, though a company spokesman stated in December that the firm has made no definitive decision regarding timing or indeed whether it will pursue a public listing.

The aggressive valuations being assigned to AI companies have prompted concern amongst some investors and central banking authorities. Questions have emerged about whether the technology sector may be experiencing an unsustainable bubble, particularly given the substantial sums being invested in AI infrastructure and applications. Amodei acknowledged these concerns in December, stating that AI companies risk “overextension” due to uncertainty surrounding the timing of economic value generation from the technology.

OpenAI, Anthropic’s Microsoft-backed competitor, is separately preparing for a public market flotation with potential valuations reaching $1 trillion. The company, led by Sam Altman, is understood to be laying groundwork for a stock market listing, with possible regulatory filings anticipated in the second half of this year. Despite concerns about market overvaluation, many investors maintain optimism about the growth trajectory of AI companies as businesses and governments continue to invest heavily in artificial intelligence capabilities.