Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI as the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup by reaching a valuation close to $1 trillion after a substantial Series H funding round. The company announced it raised $65 billion, pushing its post-money valuation to $965 billion, marking a significant leap from its previous $380 billion valuation earlier this year.
The funding round involved key investors such as Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia Capital. This capital injection aims to accelerate Anthropic’s safety research initiatives and expand computing power capabilities to meet rising demand for its flagship AI model, Claude.
Anthropic’s revenue run rate reportedly exceeded $47 billion, reflecting rapid growth since its founding in 2021 by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, who hold a combined net worth estimated at $14 billion. The startup has leveraged a recent partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, utilizing the "Colossus" supercomputer to enhance performance for premium Claude users, including "Claude Pro" and "Claude Max" subscribers.
Meanwhile, OpenAI, which had a $730 billion valuation in its March funding round, has seen a relative decline in market share for its ChatGPT app, which accounted for 47% of global AI app downloads in the second quarter, down from 67% during the same period last year. In contrast, Anthropic’s Claude app raised its share dramatically to 14% from just 1% in each quarter last year.
Anthropic’s growth has also placed it at the center of a government conflict over AI security concerns. The company refused to grant unrestricted access to its AI models due to fears of government misuse involving mass surveillance and automated weapons. As a result, the Pentagon designated Anthropic a national security supply chain risk, a status the company is currently contesting in court.