With AI, investor loyalty is (almost) dead: at least a dozen OpenAI VCs have now also backed Anthropic

Since OpenAI is on the verge of completing a new round of $100 billion, and Anthropic has just closed its $30 billion monster, one thing is clear: the investor’s idea is “honest,” just hanging by a thread.

At least a dozen direct investors in OpenAI were announced as backers in Anthropic’s $30 billion fundraising earlier this month, including Founders Fund, Iconiq, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital.

Some dual investments are understandable if they come from the hedge fund or asset management world, where their MO is still investing mostly in public stocks (competitors or not). These include D1, Fidelity, and TPG.

One of them was shocking. BlackRock mutual funds joined the $30 billion Anthropic although BlackRock managing director and board member Adebayo Ogunlesi is also on OpenAI’s board of directors.

Of course, in that world, if BlackRock’s various funds get the chance to own OpenAI stock, they’re likely to take it, regardless of the personal connections of a member of their senior leadership. (BlackRock manages all fund types including mutuals, close-ends, EFTs). And we all know the history of OpenAI and Microsoft’s relationship is why Microsoft is hedging its bets. Next up for Nvidia.

But venture capital funds have – until now – worked differently.

VCs market themselves as “founder friendly” and “helpful.” The idea is that if a VC firm buys a stake in a startup, the investor will help that startup succeed, especially against their larger competitors. If you own both OpenAI and Anthropic, who is your loyalty to, other than your investors?

Additionally, startups are private companies. They often share confidential information with their direct investors about the nature of the business. This is data that is not publicly disclosed as it would be for public companies. In many cases, VCs also take board seats, which is another level of responsibility for their portfolio companies.

What makes this case even more interesting is that Sam Altman himself comes from the business world as the former president of Y Combinator. You know the drill. In 2024, he reportedly gave his investors a list of OpenAI competitors he didn’t want back either. It has largely included companies launched by people who left OpenAI, including Anthropic, xAI, and Safe Superintelligence.

Altman later denied that he told OpenAI’s investors that they would be barred from future rounds if they backed his list of potential competitors. Altman admitted that if they “invest passively,” they would no longer have access to OpenAI’s confidential business information, according to documents in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, Business Insider reported.

AI is also breaking the mold thanks to record amounts of money being raised by major AI labs as they experience unprecedented growth (and unprecedented data center needs). At some point, when the hat is passed for collection, and the needs are so great, and the chances of giving back are so great, who can be expected to say no?

It turns out that not all venture capitalists have slipped down this slippery slope. Andreessen Horowitz supports OpenAI but not (yet) Anthropic. Menlo Ventures backs Anthropic but not (yet) OpenAI, for example.

In fact, in our admittedly imperfect research, we found a dozen investors who appear to have direct investment in only one of these companies, not both.

Others include Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Greenoaks. (Note: we originally asked Anthropic Claude to provide us with a list of dual investors. He found almost as many wrongs as right. So, this is all because of a very cool technology whose work is sometimes more reliable than an apprentice.)

However, as we have previously reported, the fact that this long-term law was imposed by some of the most respected companies in the Valley, such as Sequoia, is noteworthy. Another investor we reached, simply shrugged and said that as long as the company no longer has a seat, no one sees any harm in it.

However, conflict of interest policies should now be another thing founders ask about before signing that term paper, no matter who it’s from.