New Sequoia leadership greenlights first Anthropic investment amid $25 billion raise

Sequoia Capital is making its first investment in Anthropic. The funding round would value the AI company at $350 billion. The investment comes after a leadership change at the California-based venture capital firm, according to a Financial Times report. The round is led by Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC and US investor Coatue, each contributing $1.5 billion. Anthropic is targeting a total raise of $25 billion. Microsoft and Nvidia have committed to investing up to $15 billion combined, with additional VC firms and investors expected to contribute $10 billion or more. New leadership at Sequoia has greenlit the investment. Former chief Roelof Botha had avoided Anthropic investments and warned against concentrating venture capital in a handful of highly valued startups. He was ousted in November, with Pat Grady and Alfred Lin taking over. Sequoia has already invested in OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI. According to a person familiar with Sequoia, the round has grown so large that it has shifted from a traditional venture capital investment to something closer to an equity investment.