Anthropic Nears $5 Billion AI Funding at $170 Billion Valuation

Anthropic, an AI startup founded by former OpenAI employees, is in advanced talks to raise up to $10 billion, potentially making it one of the largest funding rounds in the AI sector's history. This amount is a significant increase from earlier expectations of $5 billion and would value the company at around $170 billion, up from $61.5 billion earlier this year. The funding round is reportedly led by Iconiq Capital, with participation from firms such as TPG Inc, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Menlo Ventures, and sovereign wealth funds including Qatar Investment Authority and Singapore’s GIC. Anthropic's AI assistant Claude holds a leading market share of 32%, gaining adoption across industries for capabilities like code generation and natural language processing. The capital raised will support Anthropic's expansion in data centers, talent acquisition, research on AI safety and alignment, and international growth. Despite the ongoing discussions and potential changes in terms, Anthropic has declined to comment on the funding round.