Sequoia Capital is rewriting one of Silicon Valley’s oldest rules. The legendary venture firm is reportedly investing in Anthropic, the AI startup behind Claude, despite already backing OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI. Traditionally, VCs avoided funding direct rivals, choosing one winner per category to limit conflicts. In AI, that rule is clearly fading.
Anthropic’s funding round is massive. Led by GIC and Coatue, the company is targeting $25 billion or more at a reported $350 billion valuation—more than double its valuation from just four months ago. Microsoft and Nvidia are also in, committing up to $15 billion combined. An IPO could follow as soon as this year.
The move is especially striking given OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s earlier comments that investors with access to confidential information could lose that access if they actively back competitors. Yet Sequoia appears comfortable navigating those boundaries.
This marks a sharp shift from Sequoia’s past. In 2020, the firm walked away from Finix over a conflict with Stripe, forfeiting its entire investment. Today, amid leadership changes and an AI boom too big to ignore, Sequoia seems to be betting on the entire ecosystem—not just a single winner.
In the AI race, diversification may now matter more than tradition.
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