AI startup Anthropic is planning to raise an additional $2bn in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners that values the business at $60bn, according to a report by Reuters citing unnamed sources familiar with the deal.
The round marks a dramatic leap from Anthropic’s $18bn valuation just last year, following a fundraising round led by VC firm Menlo Ventures.
The Lightspeed-led round is part of a larger $6bn funding wave for the San Francisco-based company, which includes a significant $4bn investment from Amazon, issued in convertible notes last year, taking the e-commerce giant’s investment in the business to $8bn.
Anthropic, co-founded by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, generates $875m in annualised revenue through direct access to its AI models and partnerships with third-party cloud providers like Amazon Web Services.
