Dec 20 (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic is in discussions to raise $750 million in a funding round led by Menlo Ventures, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The startup’s valuation before the funding round comes to $18.4 billion, the source added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anthropic, co-founded by siblings<\/u><\/a> and former executives at Microsoft-backed rival OpenAI Dario and Daniela Amodei, has shown efforts to secure the resources and deep-pocketed backers needed to compete with OpenAI and be leaders in the technology sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Information first reported about the funding round earlier on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its Claude AI models have vied for prominence with OpenAI’s GPT series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company already has investments from Google (GOOGL.O)<\/u><\/a> and Amazon.com (AMZN.O)<\/u><\/a> with the companies agreeing to invest up to $2 billion<\/u><\/a> and $4 billion<\/u><\/a>, respectively, in the last few months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rival OpenAI’s board of directors had approached<\/u><\/a> Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about replacing chief Sam Altman and potentially merging the two AI startups, Reuters had reported in November, citing people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n