Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has become the world’s most valuable AI startup after raising a jaw dropping $65 billion in fresh funding. The company announced on Thursday that the new funding round has pushed its post-money valuation to nearly $965 billion. The figure puts it ahead of its rival OpenAI.
The latest funding round included investments from major firms like Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital. The jump is huge, even by Silicon Valley standards, and shows just how fast the AI race is moving.
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, had raised $122 billion earlier this year in March, according to Forbes. That funding round valued the company at $730 billion, or around $852 billion after the investment was added. While OpenAI still remains one of the biggest names in artificial intelligence, Anthropic has now officially overtaken it in valuation.
Anthropic’s growth has been explosive
What makes the jump intriguing is how rapidly Anthropic’s value has climbed in recent months. Just a few months ago, in February, the company raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion. Since then, its valuation has more than doubled.
Anthropic said the new funding will largely go towards improving AI safety research and expanding the computing power needed for Claude, the company’s main AI model. Claude has become one of the strongest competitors to ChatGPT over the past year.
The company says demand for Claude is growing, especially among paid users and businesses that rely on AI tools for work.
ChatGPT is still huge, but Claude is gaining ground
For years, ChatGPT dominated the AI space after becoming the fastest-growing consumer app in history. But recent numbers suggest the gap between ChatGPT and competitors is slowly closing.
According to data shared by SensorTower with Forbes, ChatGPT accounted for 47% of global AI app downloads during the second quarter of 2026 so far. That is still a massive number, but it is much lower than the 67% share it held during the same period last year.
At the same time, Anthropic’s Claude has seen a sharp rise. Claude now makes up 14% of AI app downloads this quarter. Last year, it only accounted for around 1% in each quarter. The numbers show that while OpenAI still leads the market in many ways, competitors are catching up quickly.
Founded by former OpenAI executives
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI executives, including siblings Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei. Both are now estimated to have personal net worths of around $7 billion each.
Since launching, Anthropic has raised more than $130 billion in total funding, according to Forbes.
The company also revealed that its revenue run rate crossed $47 billion this month.
Partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Anthropic recently entered into an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well. Under the deal, Anthropic will get access to SpaceX’s “Colossus” supercomputer.
The company said the powerful system will help “directly improve capacity for Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers.”
Anthropic also faces government pressure
As the company has grown bigger, it has also landed in the middle of a heated dispute with the US government.
Anthropic has refused to provide unrestricted access to some of its AI models, saying it is worried about possible government-sponsored mass surveillance and the use of AI in automated weapons.
The disagreement escalated after the Pentagon labeled Anthropic a “national security supply chain risk.” The company is now fighting that designation in court.
Even with those challenges, investors continue to pour money into Anthropic, betting that the company could play a major role in the future of artificial intelligence.
For now, the latest funding round has firmly placed Anthropic at the top of the AI startup world, ahead of the company that once seemed impossible to catch.