Report: AI Startup Anthropic Looking to Secure $2 Billion Funding

Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic is reportedly engaged in talks to secure a $2 billion in funding.

The deal has not been finalized, and the valuation for the company has not been set, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Oct. 4), citing unnamed sources. A deal could value Anthropic at $30 billion.

Anthropic did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment. 

These talks come shortly after Amazon agreed to invest up to $4 billion in the company, according to the report.

Anthropic is part of a new wave of startups focusing on building foundation models, which are vital for many AI tools, the report said. These models require substantial resources, making significant financing crucial for companies like Anthropic and its competitor OpenAI. 

The talks between Anthropic and potential investors underscore the fierce competition among tech giants vying for a stake in the future of AI, per the report. Earlier this year, Alphabet’s Google participated in a $450 million funding round for Anthropic. Furthermore, Amazon’s commitment positions it as Anthropic’s primary cloud computing provider and chip supplier. 

Microsoft has made significant investments in OpenAI, a rival to Anthropic in generative AI. With a pledge of over $10 billion, Microsoft aims to solidify its position in the AI landscape and drive innovation in the field.

Founded in 2021 by former employees of OpenAI, Anthropic has positioned itself as a company focused on responsible and safe technology, the report said. One of its notable products is Claude, a chatbot designed to be a kinder and gentler form of AI. Claude can perform various written tasks, including summarizing, searching, answering questions and coding.

Claude has been trained to be nicer through reinforcement learning and is built atop a model architecture known as Constitutional AI, which gives an AI model a written list of principles and instructs it to follow those principles, PYMNTS reported in July. Then, it tasks a second model with policing the first based on its adherence to the principles.

When announcing the launch of Claude 2 in July, Anthropic compared the tool to a “friendly, enthusiastic colleague or personal assistant who can be instructed in natural language to help you with many tasks.”

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.