The venture capital firm Menlo Ventures created a "special purpose vehicle" to consolidate smaller investors interested in Anthropic. Dave Brown, an Amazon Web Services vice president involved in Amazon’s deal with Anthropic, commented on the complexity of these deals. The start-up's rapid and substantial funding signifies the growing allure of artificial intelligence in Silicon Valley deal-making.
Key takeaways:
- Anthropic, an artificial intelligence start-up, raised a total of $7.3 billion in funding over the last year from investors including Google, Salesforce, Amazon, and Menlo Ventures.
- The funding deals were unique not only for their speed and size but also for their structure, with Anthropic agreeing to use technology from its investors, effectively returning some of the investment.
- Menlo Ventures created a 'special purpose vehicle' to consolidate smaller investors interested in Anthropic.
- The complexity of these deals was highlighted by Dave Brown, an Amazon Web Services vice president, who was involved in Amazon's deal with Anthropic.