Anthropic is finalizing a $2 billion funding round that would value the AI company at over $60 billion, more than tripling its previous valuation. This funding round is being led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and would make Anthropic the 5th most valuable U.S. startup.

Amazon has been a major investor in Anthropic, contributing $8 billion total through two separate $4 billion investments in September 2023 and November 2024. The November investment was structured as a convertible note that will convert to equity at the current round's valuation.

The company's rapid growth is reflected in its recent annualized revenue of approximately $875 million, primarily from business sales. For comparison, its main competitor OpenAI projects $3.7 billion in revenue from ChatGPT premium subscriptions.

Anthropic recently committed to maintaining guardrails that prevent copyrighted content from appearing in AI responses. While the company can improve and optimize these filters, they must maintain their effectiveness at protecting copyrighted material.

This funding round highlights the growing investor interest in AI companies:

• OpenAI: Valued at $157 billion (October 2024)
• Anthropic: $60+ billion (pending)
• xAI: $50 billion (December 2024)
• Perplexity: $9 billion (latest round)

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