Anthropic surpasses OpenAI in value as $900B round nears close

Anthropic has agreed terms on a roughly $30 billion (approx. Rs 8.4 trillion) fundraising round that would value the artificial intelligence company at about $900 billion (approx. Rs 251.6 trillion) before the new money is added, according to an exclusive Financial Times report.

If completed at that level, the deal would put Anthropic ahead of OpenAI, which was most recently valued at about $852 billion (approx. Rs 238.2 trillion), marking a striking reversal in the hierarchy of the AI industry’s most closely watched private companies.

The development marks another stunning leap for a business that was valued at $380 billion (approx. Rs 106.2 trillion) only three months ago.

The round was put together in a matter of weeks after investors approached the company last month, underscoring how sharply sentiment has shifted around the hottest names in AI.

The deal has not yet been formally announced.

Anthropic deal at a glance

The fundraising is expected to be led by Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia Capital and Altimeter Capital, with each firm likely to invest $2 billion (approx. Rs 559.2 billion) or more, the Financial Times reported.

The process was fast even by Silicon Valley standards as the round reportedly came together in just a few weeks, after investors approached Anthropic last month and CFO Krishna Rao began sounding out demand.

That pace suggests that despite broader doubts in some parts of the market about the durability of the AI boom, leading growth investors still see a scarce asset when they look at Anthropic.

The new price tag would also represent one of the most dramatic private-market jumps in recent memory.

Anthropic closed a $30 billion (approx. Rs 8.4 trillion) Series G round in February at a $380 billion (approx. Rs 106.2 trillion) post-money valuation, according to the company, which said the money would support frontier research, product development and infrastructure expansion.

In other words, the company would be moving from $380 billion (approx. Rs 106.2 trillion) to $900 billion (approx. Rs 251.6 trillion) in roughly a quarter, a pace that would have sounded implausible even six months ago.

Revenue that rewrote the race

What is driving the valuation surge is not just hype, but growth that has startled even seasoned AI investors.

The FT reported that Anthropic’s annualised revenue had risen from about $9 billion (approx. Rs 2.5 trillion) at the end of 2025 to more than $30 billion (approx. Rs 8.4 trillion) by April 2026, and could climb above $45 billion (approx. Rs 12.6 trillion) imminently.

That would mean a fivefold increase in less than six months and would also put Anthropic ahead of OpenAI’s reported $24 billion (approx. Rs 6.7 trillion) run rate for the first time.

That revenue acceleration appears to be coming from enterprise adoption of Claude, the company’s AI assistant and model family.

For much of the past two years, Anthropic was cast as the quieter challenger to OpenAI, better known among developers and business clients than among the broader public.

Now the company is no longer an underdog in the race; in revenue terms, it is increasingly acting like the front-runner in the enterprise market.