Blackstone Joins Anthropic Round, Raising Stake to $1 Billion

Investment Overview - Blackstone Inc. is increasing its investment in artificial intelligence firm Anthropic PBC, raising its stake to approximately $1 billion at the startup's current valuation [2] - The investment includes $200 million as part of Anthropic's ongoing funding round, which is valued at $350 billion [3] Funding Details - Anthropic has more than doubled its initial fundraising target of $10 billion due to high investor demand [3] - The current funding round has attracted at least $1 billion each from Coatue Management, Singapore's GIC Pte, and Iconiq Capital, along with up to $15 billion from strategic investors Nvidia Corp. and Microsoft Corp. [5] Previous Investments - Blackstone previously participated in Anthropic's last funding round, where the company raised $13 billion at a valuation of $183 billion [5] - Blackstone's new investment is primarily sourced from its retail-focused Blackstone Private Equity Strategies Fund (BXPE) [6] Market Position - Blackstone's investment positions it among Anthropic's largest non-venture or sovereign investors [7] - Concurrently, OpenAI is in discussions to raise as much as $100 billion in another significant AI funding round, with both companies exploring initial public offerings [7]