Sequoia Capital Joins Anthropic’s Massive Funding Round — Despite Competing Bets in AI

In a move that’s sparking serious conversation across Silicon Valley, Sequoia Capital is reportedly participating in a major new funding round for Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup behind the popular Claude chatbot, according to a report from the Financial Times.

What’s drawing attention isn’t just the size of the investment — it’s the fact that Sequoia is now backing three of the biggest rivals in the AI space: OpenAI, xAI, and now Anthropic.

Traditionally, top venture capital firms have avoided funding direct competitors within the same industry, preferring to bet on one company per category. Sequoia’s latest move signals a major shift from that long-standing playbook.

Why Sequoia’s Move Raises Eyebrows

The timing of Sequoia’s investment is particularly intriguing given past remarks from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

During his testimony last year in connection with Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman addressed questions about investor restrictions in the company’s 2024 funding round. While he denied that OpenAI’s investors were broadly prohibited from investing in rival firms, he did note that investors with access to OpenAI’s confidential information could lose that access if they made “non-passive investments” in competitors.

Altman described this policy as an industry-standard measure to prevent sensitive data from leaking to competing ventures — a common safeguard in high-stakes industries like AI.

Now, Sequoia’s new participation in Anthropic’s funding round, despite its existing stakes in OpenAI and Musk’s xAI, has reignited discussions around how venture capital firms navigate conflicts of interest in the age of AI.

Inside Anthropic’s Record-Breaking Funding Round

According to reports, the current funding round is being led by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and U.S. investor Coatue Management, each contributing roughly $1.5 billion.

Anthropic is reportedly aiming to raise $25 billion or more, targeting a staggering $350 billion valuation — more than double the $170 billion valuation it reached just four months ago.

Earlier reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg suggested a smaller $10 billion round, but updated information indicates that Microsoft and Nvidia alone have committed up to $15 billion combined, with additional contributions from VCs and institutional investors pushing the total much higher.

If finalized, the deal could make Anthropic one of the most valuable private AI companies in the world, rivaling OpenAI’s own meteoric rise.

Sequoia’s Deep Roots with Sam Altman

Sequoia’s relationship with Sam Altman — the face of OpenAI — runs deep.

When Altman dropped out of Stanford University to launch his first startup, Loopt, Sequoia was among the early backers. Later, Altman worked as a “scout” for Sequoia, helping identify high-potential investments for the firm. One of his introductions led Sequoia to Stripe, which went on to become one of its most successful portfolio companies.

Additionally, Sequoia’s Alfred Lin, one of the firm’s top partners and co-leaders, has a strong rapport with Altman. Lin has interviewed him several times at Sequoia events and publicly expressed support during Altman’s brief ousting from OpenAI in 2023, saying he would happily back Altman’s “next world-changing company.”

This shared history makes Sequoia’s investment in Anthropic — a direct OpenAI rival — even more notable.

Balancing Musk, OpenAI, and Now Anthropic

While Sequoia’s stake in xAI already blurred the lines between competing interests, that deal was widely interpreted as a strategic alignment with Elon Musk, rather than a direct competitive move against OpenAI.

The firm has invested across Musk’s ecosystem of ventures — including SpaceX, Neuralink, The Boring Company, and X (formerly Twitter) — strengthening a long-term relationship that dates back to the early 2000s.

In fact, former Sequoia partner Michael Moritz was one of the first investors in X.com, the fintech startup Musk founded that eventually evolved into PayPal.

However, adding Anthropic to the mix represents a more direct overlap in AI investments, potentially signaling that Sequoia is no longer limiting itself to one “winner” in the race for artificial intelligence dominance.

A Shift from Sequoia’s Historical Stance

This isn’t the first time Sequoia’s investment choices have raised questions about portfolio overlap — but it’s the most dramatic departure yet from its traditional policies.

Back in 2020, the firm made headlines for voluntarily walking away from its $21 million investment in Finix, a payments startup it had backed just months earlier. The reason? Finix’s business was deemed too close to Stripe, another Sequoia portfolio company.

In an unprecedented move, Sequoia not only relinquished its board seat and information rights but also allowed Finix to keep the funds it had already received — an extraordinary decision intended to preserve the integrity of its relationship with Stripe.

Now, just a few years later, Sequoia seems to be rewriting its own rulebook — positioning itself across multiple AI giants that are simultaneously partners, competitors, and innovators in the same rapidly expanding ecosystem.

The Bigger Picture: Betting on the Future of AI

Sequoia’s evolving investment strategy may reflect the unprecedented scale and complexity of the AI revolution.

Rather than choosing a single winner, the firm appears to be diversifying across the AI spectrum — from foundational model builders like OpenAI and Anthropic to application-level and infrastructure partners like xAI and Nvidia.

As AI continues to shape everything from productivity tools to entire industries, major investors like Sequoia are signaling a new philosophy: in a trillion-dollar market still in its early stages, there may be room for multiple winners.

Conclusion: A New Era for Venture Capital Strategy

Sequoia Capital’s reported participation in Anthropic’s latest round represents more than just another big-ticket investment — it’s a clear reflection of how venture capital is evolving in the age of AI.

The old rule of “pick one winner and stay loyal” may no longer apply in a sector where innovation cycles move faster than ever and competitors frequently collaborate.

By spreading its bets across OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI, Sequoia is positioning itself at the center of the most transformative technological race of our time — one that could redefine not just artificial intelligence, but the very nature of global venture capital.