With OpenAI closing on another $100 billion in funding and Anthropic just closing on a massive $30 billion of its own, one thing is clear: the concept of investor “loyalty” is hanging on by one thread.
Earlier this month, at least 12 direct investors in OpenAI were announced as backers of Anthropic’s $30 billion raise, including Founders Fund, Iconiq, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital.
Some dual investing is understandable if you come from the world of hedge funds and asset managers, where the focus is still primarily on investing in public stocks (competitors or not). These include D1, Fidelity, and TPG.
One of them was a little shocking. BlackRock’s affiliated funds also participated in Anthropic’s $30 billion raise, even though BlackRock’s managing director and director, Adebayo Ogunlesi, is also on OpenAI’s board of directors.
In that world, it is true that if the various BlackRock funds had the opportunity to own OpenAI stock, they would likely do so without regard for personal connections to members of senior management. (BlackRock operates a full range of funds, including mutual funds, closed-end funds, and ETFs). And we all know the history of OpenAI and Microsoft’s relationship and why Microsoft is risk averse. The same goes for Nvidia.
However, venture capital funds have been operating differently.
VCs promote themselves as “founder-friendly” and “helpful,” and the idea is that when a VC firm buys a piece of a startup, the investors will help the startup succeed, especially against its major rivals. If you are the owner of both OpenAI and Anthropic, who else does your loyalty belong to other than your own investors?
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Additionally, startups are private companies. They typically share confidential information about their company’s business status directly with investors. Unlike public companies, this data is not available to the public. VCs often also have a seat on the board of directors, giving them another level of fiduciary responsibility for their portfolio companies.
What makes this particular case even more interesting is that Sam Altman comes from the venture capital world and is the former president of Y Combinator. He knows the drill. In 2024, he reportedly gave investors a list of OpenAI competitors he didn’t want them to back. These included primarily companies started by those who left OpenAI, such as Anthropic, xAI, and Safe Superintelligence.
Mr. Altman later denied that he told OpenAI investors that he would be barred from future rounds if they supported a listing seen as his rival. Business Insider reports that according to documents in the lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI, Altman admitted that he said he would no longer receive OpenAI’s confidential business information if they “made a passive investment.”
And as we experience unprecedented growth (and unprecedented data center needs), AI is breaking the mold, with the largest AI labs raising record amounts of money. At some point, when hats become widespread, the need becomes so great, and the possibility of return becomes so great, who can say no?
It turns out that not all venture investors are sliding down the slippery slope just yet. Andreessen Horowitz supports OpenAI, but not Anthropic (yet). For example, Menlo Ventures backs Anthropic but not OpenAI (yet).
In fact, our admittedly non-exhaustive research found more than a dozen investors who appeared to invest directly in only one of these companies, but not both.
Others include Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Greenoaks. (Note: We originally asked Claude to provide us with a list of dual investors, and there were about as many entries wrong as we got right. So this is all for very talented engineers who may be less reliable than an intern’s job.)
Still, as we previously reported, the fact that this long-standing rule has been abandoned by some of the Valley’s most respected companies, like Sequoia, is notable. One investor we contacted just shrugged his shoulders and said that as long as the company doesn’t have a board seat, no one thinks it hurts anymore.
Still, conflict of interest policies should be another thing founders should ask before signing a term sheet, no matter who it’s from.
