\n<\/p>\n
Anthropic is nearing a deal to raise between $3 billion and $5 billion in funding, valuing the large language model developer at $170 billion, Bloomberg reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iconiq Capital is leading this funding round, but there\u2019s a possibility of a second lead investor joining the deal. The company has also been in talks with Qatar Investment Authority and GIC, Singapore\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, according to the report.<\/p>\n If finalized, the deal would nearly triple Anthropic\u2019s valuation, which was $61.5 billion<\/a> after a $3.5 billion funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners announced in March. Other participants in the startup\u2019s last round included Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, General Catalyst, Jane Street, Menlo Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.<\/p>\n Despite Anthropic\u2019s mission as a safety-conscious AI model developer, the company\u2019s CEO, Dario Amodei, recently confessed in a memo to employees, reported by Wired<\/a>, that he\u2019s \u201cnot thrilled\u201d about taking money from sovereign wealth funds of dictatorial governments.<\/p>\n To keep pace with the massive capital requirements of developing AI models, the company has been forced to turn to Middle Eastern capital.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, I think \u2018No bad person should ever benefit from our success\u2019 is a pretty difficult principle to run a business on,\u201d Amodei wrote in a leaked memo.<\/p>\n Anthropic didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n