Lightspeed’s $2 Billion Anthropic Megadeal Cements VC Firm’s AI Ambitions
The 25-year-old venture capital firm is embracing tech’s new era of enormous artificial intelligence deals
In the past three months alone, xAI, OpenAI, and Anthropic have raised tens of billions to fund their hefty computing costs.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/BloombergIn the quiet days before Christmas last year, when most venture capitalists had retreated to holiday escapes in Aspen or Jackson Hole, Lightspeed Venture Partners’ investing team was contemplating a bid for a piece of OpenAI rival Anthropic.
The venture capital firm approached Anthropic with an offer to lead a multibillion-dollar investment, according to a person familiar with the matter. An agreement quickly took shape: a $2 billion funding round at a $60 billion valuation, tripling what the startup was worth a year earlier. By early January, the deal was effectively done.