Sequoia Capital Joins Anthropic’s $25 Billion Funding Frenzy—VC Giants Place Their Bets
Another day, another nine-figure check. The AI gold rush just got a heavyweight backer.
Sequoia Capital—the storied venture firm behind early bets on Apple, Google, and Airbnb—has officially entered the race to fund Anthropic. The move comes as the AI startup kicks off a staggering $25 billion funding round, one of the largest private capital raises in tech history.
Why the frenzy?
It’s simple: every major VC and corporate investor wants a seat at the table before the public markets get a turn. Anthropic isn’t just building another chatbot—it’s positioning itself as a foundational AI player, the kind that could define the next decade of tech. Missing this round isn’t an option for firms that need to show their limited partners they’re still in the game.
The valuation math
While the final numbers are still shaking out, that $25 billion target speaks volumes. It signals insatiable investor appetite, even as public tech stocks wobble. For context, that’s more than the GDP of some small nations—all parked into a single private company. Because nothing says ‘prudent capital allocation’ like betting billions on a firm that might not turn a profit for years.
What’s next?
Watch for more blue-chip names to jump in. Sovereign wealth funds, mega-corporations, maybe even a crypto-native fund or two looking for a ‘safe’ AI play. The round will likely close in tranches, with Sequoia’s participation setting the tone for who follows.
One thing’s clear: when the music stops, someone’s going to be left without a chair. But for now, the dance floor is packed—and the checks are still clearing.
Sequoia overhauls its leadership and bets on multiple rivals
Moving on, this isn’t how Sequoia used to do things. Roelof Botha, the guy running it before, didn’t want anything to do with Anthropic. He thought venture money was being thrown at the same overhyped companies. “Throwing more money into Silicon Valley doesn’t yield more great companies,” Roelof said last year.
But Roelof is out. He got replaced in November. Now Pat Grady and Alfred Lin are running the show. And their approach is different. Sequoia has already backed OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI. Now it’s backing Anthropic too.
That’s rare. Venture firms usually pick one winner in a sector and stick with it. But the money flying around AI has broken that rule.
Someone involved in the deal said this round is so huge, it doesn’t even feel like venture investing anymore. Sequoia doesn’t seem worried about overlap. The same person said the firm owns a lot of both OpenAI and xAI, and thinks they’ll all go in different directions. That’s what’s driving this shift. It’s not about picking one winner. It’s about not missing out.
Sequoia’s track record is packed with Google, Apple, Airbnb, and Stripe, but this is the first time it’s entered a late-stage deal like this for Anthropic.
And Anthropic is making serious money now, with its revenue literally surging 10x to $10 billion in December after being worth only $1 billion exactly a year before that.
That kind of growth is rare, even in tech. The company is best known for its chatbot Claude, which is used across a lot of engineering workflows.
And there’s more coming. Anthropic has already hired the law firm Wilson Sonsini to start work on an IPO. It’s also talking to banks to set up the offering. The public listing could happen later this year if all goes to plan. This would put it on the same track as OpenAI and SpaceX, who are also getting ready to go public.
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