Google DeepMind's Hassabis held secret stake in $900B rival Anthropic

Demis HassabisDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, chief executive of Google DeepMind and a Nobel Prize winner, was an early angel investor in AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the Financial Times reported. The previously undisclosed stake reveals deep personal ties between the leaders of two fierce AI rivals.

AnthropicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → was founded in 2021 by Dario AmodeiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Daniela AmodeiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and roughly a dozen researchers who left OpenAI over safety concerns. It has since grown into one of the world's most valuable startups, recently raising funding at a reported $900B valuation.

The investment is striking given that Google DeepMind and Anthropic compete head-to-head in frontier AI — Google building Gemini, Anthropic building Claude.

Google itself has committed an estimated $14B to Anthropic, with plans to invest up to $40B in total. Anthropic has reportedly pledged $200B in spending on Google's cloud services over five years.

Hassabis cofounded DeepMind in 2010. Google acquired it for roughly $400M four years later.

The FT also reported that Hassabis has backed other AI ventures started by former colleagues, including Inflection AI — founded by DeepMind co-founder Mustafa SuleymanDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, now chief executive of Microsoft AI.

Former DeepMind researchers have founded more than 12 companies since 2021, collectively raising over $14B. The exodus underscores DeepMind's outsized role as a talent incubator for the broader AI industry.

Read more: Financial Times · Sherwood News · Economic Times

Image credit: Simon Walker