OpenAI's $852 billion valuation is facing scrutiny from some investors, who say it may be inflated compared to rival Anthropic. Anthropic's annualized revenue jumped from $9 billion at the end of 2022 to $30 billion in March, driven largely by demand for its coding tools. This has led one investor to suggest that OpenAI's valuation would need to reach $1.2 trillion or more to justify its recent funding round.
The secondary market is also showing a similar trend, with Anthropic shares in high demand and OpenAI shares trading at a discount. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar argued that the company's $122 billion raise, the largest private fundraising in history, demonstrates continued investor confidence.
However, not everyone agrees with Friar's assessment. Jai Das, president of Sapphire Ventures, likened OpenAI to Netscape, a once-dominant browser that was eventually overtaken by Microsoft and absorbed by AOL.
Investors are now weighing whether Anthropic's lower valuation is more representative of the AI market's true value, or if it represents a buying opportunity.
