Schmidt, Menlo, and Sequoia Are Sitting on Billions as Anthropic Nears $965B
With Anthropic’s IPO looming, early and late-stage backers are already holding massive paper gains at the current private valuation.
By Ken Adams ·
Investors backing Anthropic are staring at billions of dollars in value ahead of a public listing expected later this year, which could push the company’s valuation as high as $2 trillion. Even before that step, at a current private market price of $965 billion, the holdings of several venture firms and individuals are already worth staggering sums. Bloomberg reported the figures for what certain backers in the AI lab are worth at that last round’s price.
Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, put money into Anthropic’s Series A in 2021, when the startup carried a $461 million valuation, according to PitchBook data. He currently holds roughly 1% of the company, and at the present private valuation, that portion is valued at nearly $10 billion. Menlo Ventures, which led Anthropic’s Series D and has invested over $1 billion in the firm over time, is holding a stake now pegged at $14 billion.
Some firms entered the picture much later but have still seen large returns. Sequoia invested in Anthropic for the first time earlier this year, when the company was already valued at $380 billion. That $3 billion investment provided about 1% ownership, a position that has more than doubled in value. Iconiq wrote a $6 billion check last year when the company stood at $183 billion; that late-stage bet is now valued at $17 billion and has the potential to double at the IPO.
Other backers have also grown their positions significantly. Sound Ventures, launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, put $35 million into the 2023 Series C round and later added another $400 million, resulting in a stake worth billions. Kutcher departed Sound Ventures this year to launch a new VC firm. Spark Capital, the only venture firm known to hold a board seat at Anthropic, invested $75 million in that same 2023 round when the company was valued at $5 billion.
That Spark Capital position has grown more than ninetyfold to $7 billion. The firm’s involvement underscores how investments made at various stages of the company’s growth are now generating substantial paper gains as the IPO approaches.
The coming months will determine how these valuations translate into realized returns once the company goes public.
Source: TechCrunch
