AI firm Anthropic valued at $61.5 billion in funding round

Along with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Anthropic made available in a limited research preview a digital “agent” called Claude Code.

Anthropic on Monday announced it has raised $3.5 billion in a funding round that valued the artificial intelligence startup at $61.5 billion.

Anthropic said the capital will be put to work advancing its AI systems, expanding its computing capacity, and speeding up its international expansion.

The funding round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and the list of those taking part included Salesforce Ventures, Fidelity Management, and Bessemer Venture Partners, according to Anthropic.

Anthropic last week released what it called its smartest artificial intelligence model to date, particularly when it comes to computer coding.

Along with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, the San Francisco-based company made available in a limited research preview a digital "agent" called Claude Code tailored to be a tool for software developers.

AI companies are pushing out new products at a fast pace and with innovations quickly reproduced by rivals, often at a lower cost, raising concerns about finding a return on massive investments.

Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, the race has been on to lead in a technology predicted to change the way people live and work.