The artificial intelligence bubble hasn't popped yet, and one of the Bay Area's top-funded generative AI startups just landed another megaround, though it still has a ways to go if it wants to catch up to OpenAI.
San Francisco-based Anthropic raised $100 million from SK Telecom, a telecommunications corporation based in South Korea, Reuters reported Sunday evening. SK Telecom also previously invested a smaller amount in Anthropic's Series C round, Reuters reported.
The new capital brings Anthropic's total funding to at least $1.35 billion, and the startup was previously valued at $5 billion in May.
OpenAI remains the top-funded generative AI startup in the Bay Area, and globally, with at least $12 billion in confirmed funding, mostly from Microsoft.
In July, Anthropic and OpenAI were also among several AI companies that formed an industry organization called the Frontier Model Forum. Its stated goals included advancing safety and best practices within AI, as well as collaborating with other stakeholders such as policymakers and academics.
Here's how Anthropic's funding stacks up against the Bay Area's other top funded generative AI startups.
OpenAI (S.F.)
- Total Funding: At least $12 billion including $1 billion-worth of commitments in a 2015 grant from Amazon Web Services, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Y Combinator and Infosys. However, most of OpenAI's funding comes from Microsoft, which invested $10 billion into the company at the beginning of 2023, in addition to a $1 billion round in 2019. Microsoft invested at least $3 billion in OpenAI prior to the $10 billion deal, according to the New York Times. OpenAI is reportedly valued at $29 billion.
Inflection AI (Palo Alto)
- Total Funding:$1.5 billion, though a portion of that amount is from cloud computing credits. Inflection AI announced a $1.3 billion round in June that included Microsoft, Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt and Nvidia — however, the company didn't disclose how much of the round was cash versus cloud credits. Inflection was co-founded by former LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman. The company is reportedly valued $4 billion. Its other investors include Hoffman's firm Greylock Partners, Polaris Partners and The General Partnership.
Anthropic (S.F.)
- Total Funding: At least $1.35 billion including two separate rounds just this year. Anthropic confirmed a $450 million Series C round in May. PitchBook data shows that round included an investment from Google parent Alphabet worth $300 million which was first reported by the Financial Times in February and reportedly gave Google a 10% stake in Anthropic. South Korean corporation SK Telecom invested $100 million into Anthropic in August. The company was valued at $5 billion in May. Disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried previously invested in Anthropic, and its other investors include Spark Capital, Menlo Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Samsung Venture Investment, Sound Ventures, SV Angel and Zoom Ventures.
Scale AI (S.F.)
- Total Funding: $603 million including a $325 million round in 2021 that valued the company at $7.3 billion. Its investors include Founders Fund, Index Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Y Combinator, Spark Capital and Coatue Management.
Adept AI (S.F.)
- Total Funding: $415 million including a $350 million round in March that was led by General Catalyst and Spark Capital, and valued the company at $1 billion.
Dialpad (San Ramon)
- Total Funding: $415 million since it was founded in 2011. The cloud-based phone system for businesses was valued at $2.2 billion in 2021 after raising $170 million. Its investors include Plug and Play, T-Mobile Ventures, Salesforce Ventures, Felicis Ventures, SoftBank Capital, GV and Andreessen Horowitz.
Grammarly (S.F.)
- Total Funding: $400 million, though it was valued at $13 billion after its last round in 2021. The writing assistant company was founded in 2009 and long-time CEO Brad Hoover will be stepping down at the end of April. Global head of product Rahul Roy-Chowdhury will take over as chief executive on May 1.
Anyscale (S.F)
- Total Funding: $260 million including a $199 million round in 2022 that was split between equity and debt and valued the company at just over $1 billion. Its investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Ant Group, Foundation Capital, Intel Capital, New Enterprise Associates and The House Fund.
Weights & Biases (S.F.)
- Total Funding: $250 million, including a $50 million "strategic" investment that was announced on Aug. 9. That round pushed its valuation up slightly to $1.25 billion. Its investors include Nvidia, Felicis Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Insight Partners, Coatue Management, Gaingels, Hack VC, Bloomberg Beta, Trinity Ventures, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and former YC partner Daniel Gross. .
Character Technologies (Palo Alto)
- Total Funding: $193 million including a $150 million Series A round that was announced in March and valued the company at $1 billion. Known as Character.AI, the chatbot software's investors include Andreessen Horowitz, GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, Color Genomics co-founder Elad Gil, SV Angel and A Capital.
