Alphabet-backed AI startup Anthropic raises US$450 million as funding freeze thaws

ANTHROPIC, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup backed by Google parent Alphabet, said on Tuesday (May 23) it had raised US$450 million, in the latest sign of a recovery in the startup funding space.

It takes the company’s valuation to US$4 billion with total US$1 billion raised in funding to date, according to PitchBook data.

Interest in artificial intelligence has piqued after Anthropic’s rival OpenAI launched ChatGPT last year but the regulators are concerned about the potential use of the technology to spread misinformation.

Anthropic, which was founded by former executives from Microsoft-backed OpenAI, said its AI systems are safe because they would not tell users how to build a weapon or use racially biased language.

The latest round of funding was led by Spark Capital with participation from Google, Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures, Zoom Ventures, among others, Anthropic said in a statement.

Yasmin Razavi, a General Partner at Spark Capital, has joined Anthropic’s board of directors, it said.

Private funding market is beginning to show some signs of recovery as optimism about the Federal Reserve nearing an end of its rate-hike cycle has boosted sentiment among venture capitalists.

Zoom Video Communications said last week that it had invested an undisclosed sum in Anthropic and would integrate startup’s technology into its video-conferencing platform.

Recently, Restaurant365 and SageSure achieved unicorn status after closing multi-million funding rounds. REUTERS