Anthropic’s expected public listing this year, at a valuation of as much as $2 trillion, stands to deliver large gains to both early-stage and later-stage investors in the AI lab. Even at Anthropic’s latest private market valuation of $965 billion, many of those venture capital firms and early backers hold stakes worth billions, according to Bloomberg.
Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, put money into Anthropic’s Series A round in 2021, when the startup was valued at $461 million, according to PitchBook data. He holds roughly 1% of the company, a stake worth nearly $10 billion at the current private valuation. That position reflects how far Anthropic’s value has climbed since the Series A.
Iconiq made a late-stage bet, writing a $6 billion check to Anthropic last year when the company was already valued at $183 billion. That investment is now worth $17 billion and could double at the IPO. Menlo Ventures, which led Anthropic’s Series D, has put more than $1 billion into the company over time, and its stake is now worth $14 billion.
Sequoia first backed the AI lab earlier this year, when Anthropic was valued at $380 billion. Its $3 billion investment gave it about 1% ownership, meaning it has already more than doubled its money. Sound Ventures, launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, invested $35 million in Anthropic’s 2023 Series C round and has since put in an additional $400 million, resulting in a stake worth billions now. Kutcher left Sound Ventures this year to launch a new venture capital firm.
Spark Capital, the only VC firm known to hold a board seat at Anthropic, invested $75 million in that same 2023 Series C round, when the company was valued at $5 billion. That position has grown more than ninetyfold, to $7 billion. The figures offer a window into the scale of returns accruing to Anthropic’s investor base as the company moves toward a public debut.
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