Anthropic has announced a $3.5 billion Series E and a $61.5 billion post-cash valuation. Photo Credit: Solen Feyissa
About five weeks after scoring another $1 billion investment from Google, Anthropic has raised an additional $3.5 billion.
The AI giant confirmed as much in a brief release, following early January rumblings of a $2 billion round at a staggering $60 billion valuation. As it turns out, the actual Series E is even larger than that – including, in keeping with the extra funding, a $61.5 billion post-cash valuation.
Lightspeed Venture Partners (also a backer of AI music platform Suno and more) led Anthropic’s newest round, which drew additional support from Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, General Catalyst, Jane Street, and several others.
Unsurprisingly, the Claude developer didn’t come right out and disclose its exact plans for the capital. However, Anthropic did acknowledge broader goals of continuing to create “next-generation AI systems” and accelerating its global buildout.
And while it perhaps goes without saying at this point, the efforts (and those of different generative AI players) are decidedly important for the music world.
Specifically when it comes to Anthropic, music publishers are still litigating over alleged infringement, with quite a lot riding on the underlying “fair use” training questions.
Notwithstanding the questions’ significance from a straight copyright perspective and in terms of the best way for rightsholders to approach AI legislation, it’ll be some time before we have concrete answers.
We previously explored the distinct possibility that plodding legal battles will be unable to keep pace with AI. Since this August 2024 report, besides the underlying technology’s continued evolution and a few relatively small concessions, the publishers’ Anthropic case has faced another delay.
Now, at the earliest, the showdown is tentatively scheduled to head to trial in March 2026. (In its latest weekly report, DMN Pro broke down exactly where the music space’s biggest AI cases stand.)
Of course, rights-related AI concerns aren’t limited to the States, nor is the ongoing industry response confined to the courtroom.
On the former front, there’s far-reaching pushback across the pond over a proposed “opt-out” system for AI training. (And despite the considerable length of the EU’s AI Act, the massive law is allowing for opt-out training loopholes of its own, according to reform-minded critics.)
Meanwhile, Sony Music yesterday led a $16 million Series A for Vermillio, a licensing platform designed to help rightsholders detect – and monetize – their works’ use in generative AI.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.