Anthropic, a San Francisco-based AI startup, is competing with ChatGPT creator OpenAI.

Anthropic, an AI software company, has announced a successful Series C funding round of $450 million, led by Spark Capital and with participation from Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Salesforce Ventures, Sound Ventures, Zoom Ventures, and others. This latest investment brings the total funding for the AI startup to approximately $1.45 billion. However, the company has not disclosed its current valuation, although estimates suggest it is around $4.1 billion.

The recent funding round exceeds earlier reports, with Zoom Ventures, the operator of Zoom Video Communications, announcing its investment in Anthropic without disclosing financial details. Prior to this round, Alphabet-owned Google had invested between $300 million and $400 million in the company.

Interestingly, the company’s previous Series B financing of $580 million in April 2022 was led by Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency firm. Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest at his parents’ house on the Stanford University campus while awaiting trial related to his involvement in FTX’s collapse and bankruptcy. However, Anthropic has not commented on whether it is considering returning Bankman-Fried’s investment, which reportedly exceeds $500 million.

With the new funding, the company plans to “responsibly deploy” its chatbot called Claude into the market.

Overall, Anthropic’s substantial funding and investments from prominent firms highlight the growing interest and support for generative AI in both the venture capital and public market sectors.

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay