Spark Capital is leading a $300 million investment in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, one of the primary startup challengers to OpenAI, at a pre-investment valuation of $4.1 billion, according to two people familiar with the matter. The deal follows a $400 million investment in the startup by Google, one of the people said.
The valuation for the two-year-old company, which has made very little revenue, reflects the recent fervor in venture capital for stakes in generative AI companies fueled by the rise of OpenAI, the maker of chatbot ChatGPT. At the same time, bigger companies like Google and Microsoft are investing in AI startups either to gain access to cutting-edge technology or secure future customers of their cloud-server rental businesses.
