Anthropic, the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company behind the Claude chatbot, has raised $65 billion (€55.8 billion) in private funding, pushing its valuation to $965 billion (€829 billion). This makes it the world's most valuable AI startup, surpassing chief rival OpenAI, which was last valued at $730 billion (€627 billion) in March.
The five-year-old company, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, now generates annualized revenue of $47 billion (€40.4 billion) from selling its technology to individuals and organizations using Claude for coding, professional tasks, and personal work. Anthropic's rapid growth has left OpenAI playing catch-up, despite the latter's early lead in making ChatGPT a household name that sparked a commercial AI boom.
Funding and Market Position
The new funding round was led by investment firms Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Greenoaks Capital, and Sequoia Capital. Anthropic chief financial officer Krishna Rao said in a statement: “This funding will help us serve the historic demand we are experiencing, stay at the research frontier, and bring Claude to more of the places where work happens.”
Anthropic also launched its newest AI model, Claude Opus 4.8, on Thursday, claiming it is even better at coding and other professional work than previous versions. The company is now moving towards a likely Wall Street debut, joining OpenAI and Elon Musk's SpaceX in the race to go public. All three firms are still losing more money than they make, fueling concerns of an AI bubble.
OpenAI last reported in March it was heading towards an $852 billion (€732 billion) valuation after a $122 billion (€104.8 billion) fundraising round. SpaceX was valued at $800 billion (€680 billion) last year, but its value grew to $1.25 trillion (€1.06 trillion) after merging with Musk's xAI in February. Musk recently announced plans for one of the biggest stock sales ever, with a pitch to investors expected as soon as next week.
Legal and Regulatory Challenges
Despite its newfound success, Anthropic has faced obstacles this year, particularly a bruising legal fight with the Trump administration over how AI tools like Claude can be used in warfare. In February, Trump ordered all US agencies to stop using Claude, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the company a supply chain risk after a public clash with CEO Dario Amodei. Anthropic sued, and the dispute is still working through two federal courts.
At the same time, Anthropic has been in talks with the White House over the cybersecurity capabilities and risks of its most powerful model, Mythos, which is not yet widely available to the public. OpenAI also cleared a major hurdle towards its IPO ambitions after a federal court dismissed a lawsuit from Musk, an OpenAI co-founder and early donor, following a weeks-long jury trial over whether the company had betrayed its original non-profit mission. Musk has said he plans to appeal.
European and Vatican Connections
Anthropic had an influential role at the Vatican ahead of Pope Leo XIV's call on Monday for robust regulation of AI and for its developers to work for the common good rather than profit. The sweeping manifesto called “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), Leo’s first encyclical, repeatedly blasted the concentration of power and data in the hands of so few people in the private sector as a danger. This aligns with broader European concerns about AI ethics and regulation, as seen in the EU's AI Act and partnerships like Airbus and BMW partnering with French AI startup Mistral for defence and safety systems.
The AI sector's rapid growth is also driving demand for memory chips, with companies like SK Hynix and Micron surpassing $1 trillion market cap as AI fuels a memory chip boom. Meanwhile, European investors are watching the IPO landscape closely, with Oura, a Finnish smart ring maker, filing for a US IPO at over €9 billion valuation.
As Anthropic and OpenAI compete for dominance, the implications for Europe are significant. The continent's regulators, businesses, and consumers are increasingly engaged with AI technologies, from chatbots to advanced models. The Vatican's call for ethical AI development resonates in Brussels, where the EU is crafting rules to balance innovation with safeguards. The race between Anthropic and OpenAI is not just a Silicon Valley story—it has global repercussions, particularly for a Europe seeking to define its own path in the AI era.
