Claude-maker’s revenue doubles as generative AI arms race accelerates
Anthropic has secured a US$2.5 billion revolving credit facility from a syndicate of major global banks, marking another major financial endorsement of the AI startup as it scales up in the high-stakes race to dominate the generative AI market.
The five-year credit line, announced this week, adds fresh liquidity to a company already valued at US$61.5 billion following a recent US$3.5 billion funding round in March. Anthropic said the funds will be used to reinforce its balance sheet, support product development, and sustain its rapid growth trajectory.
“This revolving credit facility provides Anthropic significant flexibility to support our continued exponential growth,” said chief financial officer Krishna Rao. “The backing of these global financial institutions is a testament to the strength of our business and the resonance of our mission.”
Revenue growth and enterprise traction
Anthropic confirmed that its annualised revenue reached US$2 billion in the first quarter of 2025—double the US$1 billion rate it reported in the prior period. Revenue chief Kate Jensen said the number of customers spending over US$100,000 annually with the company had surged eightfold over the past year.
Founded by former OpenAI researchers, Anthropic launched its Claude chatbot in March 2023 and has since gained commercial traction with enterprise clients including Zoom, Snowflake, and Pfizer. Its Claude models also help power Amazon’s Alexa, and reports this month suggest Apple is partnering with Anthropic to develop an AI assistant for software developers.
Major banks back the facility
The credit line was arranged with participation from some of the world’s largest financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley, Barclays, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Canada, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
The move mirrors similar financing efforts by rival OpenAI, which secured a US$4 billion revolving credit facility in October 2024 to bolster liquidity following a funding round that lifted its valuation to US$157 billion. That line included participants such as JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Morgan Stanley, and HSBC, and included an option to increase the facility by an additional US$2 billion.
Strategic liquidity in an expensive market
The surge in AI infrastructure costs—ranging from GPU supply and data centre buildouts to the training of increasingly large language models—has pushed leading firms to seek flexible financing alongside equity capital. Credit lines allow companies to preserve equity while maintaining access to capital as their operational expenses scale.
Anthropic’s new facility underscores just how quickly institutional capital is adapting to the demands of the AI boom. With the generative AI market projected to exceed US$1 trillion in annual revenue within a decade, financial institutions are jockeying to align themselves with frontrunners.
AI agents and the next wave of competition
Anthropic is one of several firms pushing toward the next frontier: autonomous “AI agents” that can reason, act, and collaborate with humans across domains. Companies including Google, Amazon, OpenAI, and Perplexity are racing to release increasingly capable AI systems, and capital access is emerging as a critical differentiator.
“Anthropic continues to be well-positioned to accelerate our research at the frontier of AI, expand our product capabilities, and deliver substantial value to our rapidly growing customer base,” Rao said in a LinkedIn post.
