'OpenAI Rival' Anthropic Raises 5 Trillion Won... Valued at 88 Trillion Won

Latest Inference Model "Claude 3.7 Sonnet" Unveiled

Anthropic, an AI startup considered a rival to OpenAI, is reportedly closing a $3.5 billion (approximately 5.061 trillion KRW) funding round, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 24th (local time).

According to sources, Anthropic initially planned to raise $2 billion but expanded the investment amount to $3.5 billion during discussions with investors. The funds raised will be used to train more powerful AI models.

Reuters Yonhap News

As a result, Anthropic's valuation soared to $61.5 billion (approximately 87.9634 trillion KRW). In last year's funding round led by Menlo Ventures, the company was valued at $18 billion, marking a 3.4-fold increase in just one year.

Sources say venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Bessemer Venture Partners are among the investors. MGX, a global AI investment firm under the Abu Dhabi government, is also participating.

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI members. Amazon and Google are among its major investors. Anthropic's AI, "Claude," is considered less dominant than OpenAI among general users but is highly regarded among programmers and business clients.

As China develops generative AI DeepSeek at a much lower cost than U.S. companies, some Silicon Valley investors have expressed concerns about the prospects of AI companies like Anthropic. However, Anthropic's confirmation of strong demand for large-scale investment is seen as a validation of AI investment demand. Recently, OpenAI was valued at $300 billion and is reportedly in talks to raise up to $40 billion.

The WSJ stated, "Despite the innovative emergence of China's DeepSeek, this shows how strong investors' willingness is to support promising AI companies."

Meanwhile, on the same day, Anthropic unveiled its latest inference model, Claude 3.7 Sonnet. The company introduced Claude 3.7 Sonnet as the industry's first hybrid model. It is explained to respond quickly to simple questions like the human brain and perform reasoning for complex questions. With OpenAI expected to release GPT-5, which integrates non-inference and inference models around May, this move is interpreted as an effort to capture market leadership.