Anthropic Raises $30B Backed by Dozen OpenAI Investors
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- Anthropic announced a $30 billion fundraising round backed by at least a dozen direct OpenAI investors, including Founders Fund, Iconiq, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital.
- BlackRock affiliated funds participated in Anthropic’s raise despite BlackRock senior managing director Adebayo Ogunlesi serving on OpenAI’s board.
- Sam Altman reportedly gave his investors a list of OpenAI rivals he didn’t want them to back, including Anthropic, xAI, and Safe Superintelligence, and later admitted that non‑passive investments could end access to confidential business information.
- Andreessen Horowitz backs OpenAI but not Anthropic, while Menlo Ventures backs Anthropic but not OpenAI, showing some VCs remain single‑invested.
- VCs traditionally market themselves as founder‑friendly, yet dual investments raise conflict‑of‑interest concerns when they hold board seats and receive confidential data.
- D1—along with Fidelity and TPG—are hedge‑fund/asset‑manager investors that also invested in both firms, a move the source deems understandable given their public‑stock focus.
Why it matters: OpenAI’s rivals gain capital from investors who also sit on its board, while the dual‑investment model erodes the traditional founder‑friendly loyalty that VCs claim, potentially limiting the flow of confidential strategic data to each startup and raising conflict‑of‑interest concerns for board‑seat holders.
