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Artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced on Thursday that it has raised $65 billion in private funding, pushing its valuation to an impressive
$965 billion. This valuation positions the five-year-old developer of the Claude chatbot among the most valuable startups globally as it approaches a potential debut on Wall Street. The funding announcement elevates Anthropic above its main competitor, OpenAI, in both market value and reported revenue. The company stated it is currently generating annualized revenue of $47 billion from clients utilizing Claude for coding and various work and personal tasks.
Founded in 2021 by former leaders of OpenAI, Anthropic, along with OpenAI and Elon Musk's SpaceX, is expected to transition to public trading. Despite their high valuations, all three companies continue to report losses, raising concerns about a potential AI bubble.The latest funding round was led by investment firms including Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Greenoaks Capital, and Sequoia Capital. Krishna Rao, Anthropic's chief financial officer, remarked in a statement, “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.”
Additionally, Anthropic unveiled its newest AI model, Claude Opus 4.8, which the company claims demonstrates enhanced capabilities in coding and professional tasks compared to earlier versions. OpenAI recently reported a valuation of $852 billion following a $122 billion fundraising round in March. SpaceX's valuation rose from $800 billion last year to $1.25 trillion after merging with Musk's xAI in February.
