AI startup Anthropic has reached a $61.5 billion valuation after closing a $3.5 billion funding round, significantly exceeding its initial $2 billion target.
The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments (CSCO), D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity, General Catalyst, Jane Street, Menlo Ventures, and Salesforce (CRM, Financial) Ventures, among others.
Anthropic, backed by Amazon (AMZN, Financial), recently introduced Claude 3.7 Sonnet, a model the company says has set a new benchmark in coding abilities and will serve as a foundation for more advanced AI systems.
Amazon has previously invested $4 billion into Anthropic, including $2.75 billion last March. Meanwhile, competitor OpenAI is currently seeking $40 billion in funding, which could push its valuation to $340 billion.
