Prime Highlights
- Sequoia Capital is investing in Anthropic, the company behind Claude, signaling strong confidence from top investors.
- Anthropic is preparing for an IPO this year, setting the stage for a major market debut.
Key Facts
- The funding round is led by GIC and Coatue, with Microsoft and Nvidia also contributing significant support.
- Anthropic’s growth and high investor backing highlight confidence in the company’s potential.
Background:
Sequoia Capital is joining a big funding round for Anthropic, the company behind Claude, a move that is getting a lot of attention in Silicon Valley.
Usually, venture capital firms don’t invest in multiple competitors in the same industry and prefer to support just one. Sequoia’s decision to invest in Anthropic, while already supporting both OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI, marks a change in this long-standing approach.
According to the Financial Times, Singapore’s GIC and U.S. investor Coatue are leading the round, each contributing $1.5 billion. Anthropic aims to raise $25 billion or more at a $350 billion valuation, more than double its $170 billion valuation just four months ago. Microsoft and Nvidia have pledged up to $15 billion collectively, while other investors are expected to contribute an additional $10 billion or more.
The funding news comes amid Sequoia’s strong historical ties to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Altman was an early entrepreneur backed by Sequoia when he started Loopt and later served as a “scout,” introducing the firm to Stripe, one of its most valuable portfolio companies. The firm’s new co-leader, Alfred Lin, also has a longstanding professional connection with Altman, further strengthening the relationship.
Sequoia’s apparent reversal on traditional portfolio conflict rules is notable. In the past, the firm walked away from a payments startup, Finix, over potential competition with Stripe, giving up its investment entirely. The Anthropic deal highlights a more flexible approach in Sequoia’s strategy under recent leadership changes, with Lin and Pat Grady now at the helm.
