Anthropic, creator of the Claude AI system, saw its annualized revenue and usage multiply 80-fold in the first quarter of 2026. Bessemer Venture Partners partner Byron Deeter highlighted this explosive growth as evidence of a "once-in-a-generation" company.
The company's own internal projections had anticipated roughly 10x growth, but Anthropic surpassed that expectation by a factor of eight, achieving an estimated run-rate revenue of $47 billion by mid-May.
On May 28, 2026, Anthropic closed a $65 billion Series H funding round, valuing the company at $965 billion. This brings the five-year-old AI startup within striking distance of the trillion-dollar club. The round saw participation from Altimeter, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, Sequoia, and Bessemer, all increasing their positions.
Anthropic now serves over 300,000 business customers. Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives Dario and Daniela Amodei, the company's focus on building safe and interpretable AI systems has driven this remarkable enterprise adoption and financial trajectory.