The impending finalization of OpenAI's new $100 billion funding round and Anthropic's recent closure of its own substantial $30 billion raise unequivocally signal a significant erosion in the traditional concept of investor "loyalty."
Notably, at least a dozen direct investors in OpenAI were also revealed as participants in Anthropic's $30 billion funding round earlier this month. This group includes prominent firms such as Founders Fund, Iconiq, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital.
Some instances of dual investment are more readily understood when originating from hedge funds or asset management firms, whose investment strategies frequently involve publicly traded stocks, irrespective of competitive landscapes. Examples here include D1, Fidelity, and TPG.
However, one particular instance proved somewhat unexpected: affiliated funds of BlackRock joined Anthropic's $30 billion raise, even though Adebayo Ogunlesi, a senior managing director and board member at BlackRock, simultaneously holds a seat on OpenAI’s board of directors.
Within the asset management industry, it's generally accepted that various BlackRock funds would pursue opportunities to own OpenAI stock if presented, notwithstanding any personal associations of their senior leadership. (BlackRock manages a diverse portfolio of funds, including mutual funds, closed-end funds, and ETFs). This situation mirrors the well-documented hedging strategies employed by major players like Microsoft and Nvidia in their AI investments.
Yet, venture capital funds have, until recently, operated under a distinct set of principles.
Venture capitalists market themselves as "founder friendly" and "helpful," with the implicit understanding that their investment in a startup includes a commitment to its success, particularly against key competitors. When an investor holds stakes in both OpenAI and Anthropic, the question of where their ultimate loyalty lies, beyond their own limited partners, becomes pertinent.
Moreover, startups are private entities that typically share confidential business information with their direct investors—data not publicly disclosed as it would be for public companies. In many cases, VCs also secure board seats, which carries an additional layer of fiduciary responsibility to their portfolio companies.
Adding another layer of complexity to this scenario is Sam Altman's background; as a former president of Y Combinator, he is intimately familiar with the norms of venture capital. In 2024, he reportedly furnished his investors with a list of OpenAI's rivals that he preferred they not back. This list largely comprised companies launched by former OpenAI personnel, including Anthropic, xAI, and Safe Superintelligence.
Altman later denied that he explicitly told OpenAI investors they would be barred from future funding rounds if they supported his identified rivals. However, he did admit to stating that if they "made non-passive investments" in competing entities, they would no longer receive OpenAI's confidential business information, according to documents from the lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI, as reported by Business Insider.
The AI sector is also redefining traditional investment paradigms due to the record-breaking sums of money being raised by the largest AI laboratories, driven by unprecedented growth and equally unprecedented demands for data center infrastructure. At a certain point, with such immense capital requirements and the potential for extraordinary returns, it becomes increasingly difficult for investors to decline participation.
It is worth noting, however, that not all venture investors have yet adopted this strategy of dual investment. For instance, Andreessen Horowitz backs OpenAI but not (currently) Anthropic, while Menlo Ventures supports Anthropic but not (yet) OpenAI.
Indeed, our admittedly non-exhaustive research identified approximately a dozen investors who appear to hold direct investments in only one of these prominent AI companies, not both.
Additional examples include Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Greenoaks. (As a side note, our initial attempt to use Claude to generate a list of dual investors yielded nearly as many inaccuracies as correct entries, highlighting that even advanced AI tools can sometimes be less reliable than human verification.)
Nevertheless, as we have previously reported, the fact that this long-standing principle has been discarded by some of Silicon Valley's most respected firms, such as Sequoia, is a significant development. One investor, when approached, simply shrugged and indicated that as long as the firm does not hold a board seat, the perceived conflict of interest is no longer considered problematic.
Consequently, founders should now consider making inquiries about conflict-of-interest policies a standard part of their due diligence before signing any term sheet, regardless of the investor's reputation.
The Editorial Staff at AIChief is a team of professional content writers with extensive experience in AI and marketing. Founded in 2025, AIChief has quickly grown into the largest free AI resource hub in the industry.