Anthropic Could Become the World’s Most Valuable AI Startup with $30B Funding Round

AI giant Anthropic is reportedly close to raising more than $30 billion in a new funding round that could value the Claude maker above $900 billion, potentially making it the world’s most valuable AI startup. The round may close as soon as next week, according to Bloomberg, and is expected to be co-led by Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Altimeter Capital, and Greenoaks Capital Partners. Each firm is expected to invest about $2 billion, while existing backers such as Founders Fund and General Catalyst are also expected to participate. The final terms are still being completed, so things could still change.

Meet Samuel – Your Personal Investing Prophet

The speed of the fundraising shows just how strong investor demand remains for leading AI companies. Anthropic has become one of the top players in the AI market through its Claude models and tools for coding, cybersecurity, and business automation. The company now expects second-quarter revenue of $10.9 billion, more than double the prior quarter, and is reportedly on track for its first profitable quarter. It has also told investors that annualized run-rate revenue could surpass $50 billion by the end of next month, up sharply from $4 billion in July of last year.

The funding push is tied to Anthropic’s need for more computing power as demand for its AI products grows quickly. CEO Dario Amodei recently said that the company saw “80x growth” in annualized revenue and usage in the first quarter, which is why it is racing to secure more infrastructure. Anthropic has already signed a more than $40 billion deal with SpaceX, a $1.8 billion agreement with Akamai Technologies (AKAM), and has also tapped Google (GOOGL) for chips and cloud services. Meanwhile, Google and Amazon (AMZN) have major investments in Anthropic as well.

Which AI Stock Is the Better Buy?

Turning to Wall Street, out of the two tech giants mentioned above, analysts think that AMZN stock has more room to run than GOOGL. In fact, AMZN’s price target of $319 per share implies 19.8% upside versus GOOGL’s 11.8%.