$3.5 billion more for Anthropic
Four reasons why we’re doubling down on Anthropic’s Series E and how Co-founders Daniela and Dario Amodei are the architects of the AI future.
Sameer Dholakia, Byron Deeter, David Cowan, Alex Yuditski, Grace Ma & Sam Bondy
Published on Mar 3, 2025
The AI landscape is evolving at a relentless speed—like an escalating game of 3D chess. Take Anthropic’s latest breakthrough: Claude 3.7, the first hybrid reasoning model, delivering both lightning-fast responses and deep, step-by-step problem-solving.
Alongside Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Anthropic unveiled Claude Code, an agentic coding tool in research preview. Seamlessly integrating into developers' workflows, Claude Code operates within the terminal, understands codebases, and accelerates development with natural language commands. Claude Code is designed to streamline and supercharge the coding process from automating routine tasks to managing version control, representing one of the most compelling examples of Agentic AI yet.
These innovations cement Anthropic’s position at the forefront of AI, bridging practical problem-solving with cutting-edge technology. And in this high-stakes industry chess match, their latest moves are game-changing.
That’s why we’re proud to back Anthropic again as part of their latest $3.5 billion financing.
Bessemer Venture Partners is doubling down on our investment in Anthropic because we are convinced that winning in AI requires more than engineering efficiency—it demands best-in-class talent, breakthrough research, massive hyperscaler capacity and distribution, and an unwavering commitment to safety.
Four key factors drove our decision to double down on Anthropic
1. Enterprise AI is at an inflection point: In 2023, the initial wave of AI adoption focused on consumer applications and proof-of-concepts. But in 2025, enterprises are moving from experimentation to production deployment. This shift demands more than just raw model performance—it requires robust infrastructure, reliable scaling, and enterprise-grade security. Anthropic demonstrates this enterprise-first approach, combining state-of-the-art capabilities with the features businesses need to deploy AI safely and effectively.
2. Developers are the key to platform dominance: Anthropic's commanding lead in code generation and software development capabilities represents a critical strategic advantage. Just as previous technology platform shifts like virtualization, cloud computing, and mobile were driven by developer adoption, AI's enterprise penetration has been led by its ability to enhance developer productivity through best-in-class models. Claude's superior performance in coding tasks, combined with its deep understanding of software architecture and best practices, has made it the preferred choice for developers worldwide. This developer-first approach isn't just about feature sets—it's about building a sustainable competitive advantage in what has historically been the most important early adopter user persona and use case in the enterprise. What makes this particularly powerful is the closed-loop nature of software development: unlike more subjective AI applications like content creation or writing, code either works or it doesn't. This immediate, objective feedback loop enables rapid iteration and improvement (via reinforcement learning), allowing Anthropic to build upon its existing significant lead in the coding use case while accelerating the path to enterprise-wide adoption.
3. The safety advantage is widening: Recent developments have only reinforced our belief that AI safety isn't just an ethical imperative—it's a crucial competitive advantage. While others rush to market with minimal safeguards, Anthropic's constitutional AI approach and comprehensive safety framework are becoming increasingly valuable to enterprises that can't afford the reputational or operational risks of unsafe AI deployment. Anthropic’s Responsible Scaling Policy has established an industry gold standard other competitors struggle to match. All of these activities are underscored by Anthropic’s continued commitment to research on mechanistic interpretability and alignment.
4. Distribution moats and growth matter more than ever: The partnerships Anthropic has forged with Amazon (Bedrock) and Google (Vertex) aren't just capital infusions, infrastructure access, and distribution channels—they're strategic moats that become more valuable as the AI market matures. Customers prefer to leverage LLMs where their data already resides and where they already have commercial relationships. For many businesses, the ability to easily procure and integrate Claude within their hyperscaler’s environment is a real advantage. The early success of these partnerships, with Claude emerging as the most requested model on Amazon Bedrock, validates our thesis about the importance of enterprise distribution. And as we reflect on this reinvestment, what excites us most is Anthropic’s astonishing traction. Anthropic’s velocity of growth at 10-figure scale has only been matched by their current rival. As we’ve explored, the AI foundation model landscape will be one of the largest — and most competitive — markets in technology history.
Architects of the AI future
Recent AI efficiency developments are significant but represent just one aspect of this historic technical paradigm. The actual AI race to value isn't just about training costs—it's also about building AI systems that enterprises can trust, scale, and rely on. Anthropic's comprehensive approach to this challenge, combining cutting-edge research with practical enterprise needs, positions them uniquely in this race.
Dario and Daniela Amodei have cultivated an impressive concentration of AI talent at Anthropic and assembled a team that comprehends the immense potential and significant responsibilities of developing cutting-edge AI systems. The co-founders’ experience at OpenAI and the exceptional team they've assembled provide them with a distinct advantage in safely and successfully developing AI at scale.
This new influx of funding will accelerate Anthropic's research into more capable and safer AI systems, expand its enterprise infrastructure, and strengthen its position as a trusted partner for businesses navigating the AI revolution. As the market matures and enterprises demand more sophisticated and trusted AI solutions, Anthropic's comprehensive approach will prove increasingly valuable. The team’s multi-faceted vision to invest in improving underlying models, developing agentic frameworks, advancing computer use, and building upon their research in interpretability and alignment is incredibly compelling. As these all come together in the not-too-distant future, we anticipate that Anthropic will eventually provide virtual AI collaborators to knowledge workers and Enterprise customers of every shape and size. This isn't just incremental progress; it's a fundamental rethinking of how AI can serve human potential across every industry.
The next chapter of AI will be written by companies that can balance innovation with responsibility, technical excellence with practical deployment, and rapid progress with careful consideration of consequences. Anthropic possesses all these qualities—and more importantly, it has a team capable of executing this vision at scale.
If you're building AI infrastructure or the AI applications running on top of them, contact someone on our team. Learn more about our AI investment thesis and view our latest AI and data infrastructure market map.
Learn more about our journey with Anthropic:
Contributors
Sameer Dholakia
Partner
Sameer Dholakia is a partner of the growth investment practice at Bessemer, where he focuses on GenAI and Physical AI investments.
Before starting his second career in Venture Capital in 2022, Sameer spent 25 years as an operator, building software companies. His most recent role was as the CEO of Bessemer-backed, SendGrid, which he joined in 2014. He accelerated the company’s growth and led SendGrid through a successful IPO in 2017 and subsequent acquisition by leading cloud communications platform Twilio for approximately $3 billion in early 2019.
Before joining SendGrid, Sameer served as GM of the Cloud Platforms Group at Citrix, which he joined following its acquisition of his first startup, VMLogix.
Sameer earned a B.A. in economics and a M.A. in organizational studies from Stanford University. He also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Outside of work, Sameer most treasures his time with his wife, Laura, and their two kids. He enjoys traveling, watching sports, and trying to improve his golf game. He also supports philanthropic efforts at Pledge 1% and is the Board Chair of the Menlo School Board.
Byron Deeter
Partner
Byron Deeter is a leading investor in AI, Cloud, Frontier Technology, and the Business of Sports. He co-authored Bessemer’s iconic 10 Laws of Cloud Computing, the Bessemer Forbes Cloud 100, the BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud Index, and Bessemer’s STRIVE program for executive health and wellness. Byron works closely alongside many of the best founders in the cloud world, with 26 of Byron’s investments currently valued above $1 billion each, including 13 IPOs and counting.
Byron first raised a Series A with Bessemer back in 2000, as CEO and founder of Trigo Technologies. His company grew to be one of the first global SaaS companies, reaching profitability and was successfully sold to IBM. Byron foresaw that cloud computing would not only change the way people built new technologies but also how The Cloud would systematically run the world. In 2005, Byron returned to Bessemer, this time to help lead the firm’s global cloud practice.
Byron graduated with honors from The University of California, Berkeley, where he met his then college sweetheart and now wife. Byron is a perennial Midas List investor, past Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, partner/owner of the San Francisco 49ers and Leeds United, as well as an active board member/advisor to numerous causes including the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, U.C. Berkeley Foundation, Pledge 1% and Cal Rugby. Although he’s a four-time Rugby Collegiate National Champion and serial Ironman finisher, he’s largely converted to leisure sports of golf, wake surfing, and skiing with his wife and three children.
David Cowan
Partner
David Cowan is one of the world’s leading investors, having funded Seed, Series A, and Series B rounds that led to over 30 IPOs. David was ranked sixth on the Midas List and tied for fourth in the Midas List of Hall of Fame.
Based in our Silicon Valley office, David launched Bessemer's practices in cloud, cybersecurity, consumer internet, gaming, space, and quantum computing. Known for taking chances on the unorthodox, David’s early stage bets include Twitch (acquired by Amazon), Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB), and Skybox Imaging (acquired by Google).
David has co-founded three cybersecurity companies incubated within Bessemer’s offices: VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN), serving as initial Chairman and CFO; Good Technology (fka Visto, acquired by Blackberry) serving as CEO; and Defense.net (acquired by F5).
He earned an AB in computer science / mathematics and an MBA, both from Harvard University. Today he serves on several non-profit boards including the Center for Inquiry and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He is the co-writer of the Silicon Valley mockumentary series “Bubbleproof,” and Emmy-nominated producer of the award-winning MTV Documentary film “Afghan Dreamers.”
Alex Yuditski
Vice President
Alex is a vice president with Bessemer’s growth investment practice where she primarily focuses on AI and cloud software investments.
Prior to joining Bessemer, Alex was an investor at Blue Owl Capital and focused on growth investments in 6sense, Brex, JumpCloud, Nuvemshop, Nylas, Kajabi, Klaviyo, Replicated, Robinhood, and Split. Prior to joining Blue Owl Capital, Alex was an investment banker in William Blair’s software M&A group and Regions Securities’ leveraged finance group.
Alex holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wake Forest University. Outside of work, you can find Alex cheering on the New York Giants, cooking, and spending time with friends and family.
Grace Ma
Investor
Grace is an investor with Bessemer’s growth investment practice in San Francisco, where she primarily focuses on AI and software investments.
Prior to joining Bessemer, Grace was an Associate at Centana Growth Partners, where she worked on early-stage growth investments in software and fintech. She was also previously at Oliver Wyman as a strategy consultant, advising Fortune 500 companies in M&A, organizational effectiveness, and growth strategy.
Grace earned her B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in Business Administration and minored in Public Policy. Outside of work, Grace enjoys Pilates, traveling, and following the latest in F1.
Sam Bondy
Vice President
Sam is a vice president based out of San Francisco and primarily focuses on early and growth stage cloud and AI.
Prior to venture capital, Sam began his career in Technology, Media, and Telecommunications investment banking at J.P. Morgan where he focused on M&A and capital markets transactions for both private and public companies. He then joined Harvest Partners, a private equity firm in New York, focusing on software and business services buyout. Most recently, Sam moved into earlier stage investing where he worked at Soma Capital primarily focusing on software and fintech.
Sam grew up in New York City and first attended McGill University in Montreal, before graduating summa cum laude from SUNY Binghamton where he received a B.A. in Economics. Outside of work, he is an aspiring outdoorsman, a (very) novice golfer, skier, surfer, and loves to run, read, travel, and listen to podcasts.
