AI Titans OpenAI and Anthropic Share Investor Base as Capital Flows to Both Rivals
With both labs targeting stock market debuts this year, major money managers are hedging bets in a sector where a winner-take-all outcome is increasingly seen as unlikely.
Approximately 90 venture capital firms and other money managers have invested in both OpenAI and Anthropic, despite the two artificial intelligence laboratories being fierce competitors for talent, customers, and policy influence. Data from PitchBook indicates that OpenAI shares about 42 percent of its investors with Anthropic, a significant overlap that industry experts describe as unusual or unprecedented. Major firms with stakes in both entities include Sequoia Capital, Greylock, Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Emerson Collective, and Sound Ventures.
The intersection of investor bases is particularly notable as both companies aim to make their stock market debuts this year. Initial public offerings are often a chance for investors to realise gains in their ownership of a startup, yet last year only two-thirds of initial public offerings attracted a significant pop in value. With bets in both OpenAI and Anthropic, investors may be doubling their odds of success in a market where few believe the outcome will be winner-take-all.
Just last week, Anthropic made a fundraising announcement that named 31 investors, at least 13 of which have stakes in OpenAI, according to PitchBook data and reporting by WIRED. The number of common investors may be an undercount, as collecting information about private investments is challenging. WIRED identified at least a couple of investors missing from OpenAI’s roster in the PitchBook data, including Amazon.
Historically, venture capital firms have concentrated their bets on one company in an area of competition to avoid conflicts of interest. However, the venture capital industry has evolved as funds have grown larger, with firms backing larger numbers of startups that stay private longer and raise more money than ever before. OpenAI and Anthropic each have raised well more than $100 billion at valuations approaching $1 trillion, blurring the lines between different classes of investment firms. About 30 of the overlapping investors are identified as hedge funds, private equity firms, or wealth managers that commonly spread their bets.
While some firms like Menlo Ventures and General Catalyst have backed only Anthropic, and others like Khosla Ventures and Thrive Capital have backed only OpenAI, the majority of overlapping investors view the cross-investment as a strategy to maximise returns. Uncertainty over OpenAI’s unusual corporate structure, which historically limited investor returns, may have motivated some funds to take stakes in Anthropic, while fear of missing out remains a driver for others.
