(Reuters) – Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic is in talks to raise $750 million in a funding round led by Menlo Ventures, that could value the company at $15 billion, not including the investment, The Information reported on Wednesday.
The round hasn’t been finalised and the final valuation could go above $18 billion, the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.
Both Anthropic and Menlo did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Anthropic, co-founded by siblings and former executives at Microsoft-backed rival OpenAI Dario and Daniela Amodei, has shown efforts to secure the resources and deep-pocketed backers needed to compete with OpenAI and be leaders in the technology sector. Its Claude AI models have vied for prominence with OpenAI’s GPT series.
The strartup already has investments from Google and Amazon.com with the companies agreeing to invest up to $2 billion and $4 billion, respectively, in the last few months.
Rival OpenAI’s board of directors had approached Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about replacing chief Sam Altman and potentially merging the two AI startups, Reuters had reported in November, citing people familiar with the matter.
(Reporting by Gokul Pisharody in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
