FTX’s lost fortune: Anthropic stake would have been worth $5b

Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has secured $3.5 billion in its latest funding round, bringing its valuation to $61.5 billion.

The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, General Catalyst, Jane Street, and Salesforce Ventures. 

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic has quickly established itself as a major player in the AI industry. The company is best known for its Claude series of AI models, with the latest iteration, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, recently launched.

The newly acquired funds will be used to advance next-generation AI systems, enhance computational capabilities, deepen research in mechanistic interpretability and alignment, and accelerate international expansion, particularly in Asia and Europe.

FTX and Anthropic

A notable aspect of Anthropic’s financial journey involves its early association with the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. 

In 2021, FTX invested $500 million in Anthropic, acquiring approximately an 8% stake in the company. However, following FTX’s bankruptcy in 2022, the exchange’s estate sought to liquidate assets to repay creditors. In March 2024, FTX sold about two-thirds of its Anthropic stake for $884 million to a consortium of investors, including Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund. 

Subsequently, in June 2024, FTX sold its remaining 15 million shares in Anthropic at $30 per share, netting over $450 million. 

These transactions cumulatively resulted in approximately $1.3 billion, significantly aiding FTX’s efforts to repay its creditors

If FTX had not sold and retained its stake, its original investment of $500 million would now be valued at $5 billion.