Anthropic weighs $6 billion acquisition of AI startup Decart

2 min read Updated on 14 Aug 2026, 02:31 AM

Reviewed by

Ritika DScanX News Team

AI Summary

Anthropic is negotiating a $6 billion acquisition of Decart AI to enhance its computing infrastructure and inference capabilities. The deal follows Decart's recent $300 million Series B raise, which valued the startup at nearly $4 billion. This strategic move coincides with Anthropic's preparation for a potential October IPO, where it targets a valuation of $2 trillion or more amid projected revenue growth to $100 billion-$120 billion by end-2026.

*this image is generated using AI for illustrative purposes only.

Anthropic is reportedly in discussions to acquire artificial intelligence startup Decart AI for approximately $6 billion, a move that would represent the company’s largest acquisition to date. According to sources familiar with the matter, the potential deal is designed to strengthen Anthropic’s existing computing infrastructure, enabling the firm to handle greater demand for its services.

The acquisition targets Decart’s technical capabilities, with the startup’s team slated to join Anthropic’s inference and performance organization. However, sources cautioned that the deal is not finalized and could be subject to change or ultimately fall through.

Deal Context and Valuation

Decart was co-founded in 2023 by Dean Leitersdorf, Moshe Shalev, and Orian Leitersdorf. Headquartered in San Francisco, the firm specializes in real-time, low-latency generative video and interactive world models, including products named Oasis and Lucy, alongside the Decart Optimization Stack (DOS).

The startup has seen rapid valuation growth, raising $300 million in a Series B funding round in May led by Radical Ventures and Jordan Jacobs. This round brought Decart’s total funding to more than $450 million, with participation from Nvidia Corp, Valor Equity Partners, Adobe Ventures, and Atreides Management. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Benchmark, and Zeev Ventures also participated.

Funding Metric	Value
Series B Raise (May)	$300 million
Total Funding	>$450 million
Current Valuation	~$4 billion
Prior Valuation (Aug 2025)	$3.1 billion

The May funding round pushed Decart’s valuation to nearly $4 billion, up from $3.1 billion in August 2025. Bloomberg noted that Israeli media outlet Calcalistech had previously reported Decart was allegedly holding acquisition discussions with SpaceX; however, Elon Musk refuted this claim on X, calling it "fake news."

Anthropic’s Market Outlook

Anthropic is reportedly on the brink of a market debut, with predictions of a $2 trillion or more valuation in its forthcoming October IPO. Supporters of Anthropic argue that strong demand for its advanced AI models and tools justifies these lofty expectations. Forecasts suggest the company’s annual revenue could reach $100 billion to $120 billion by the end of 2026, representing more than a tenfold increase over the year.

CNBC commentator Jim Cramer defended the reported $2 trillion IPO valuation, arguing it is justified by strong revenues rather than indicative of a market bubble. Cramer pushed back against criticism by focusing on revenue growth and highlighting sustainable high multiples for fast-scaling AI companies.

How might the integration of Decart’s low-latency video capabilities influence Anthropic’s competitive positioning against multimodal rivals like OpenAI and Google ahead of its IPO?

Could the $6 billion acquisition price signal a broader trend of premium valuations for specialized AI infrastructure startups, potentially inflating M&A costs in the sector?

What impact will the absorption of Decart’s engineering team have on Anthropic’s ability to meet the projected $100 billion revenue target by 2026?

Leadership Expansion Ahead of IPO

The hiring of Yang coincides with a period of rapid expansion for Anthropic as it moves toward an initial public offering. The company is reportedly targeting a valuation of $2 trillion or more for its forthcoming October IPO.

Recent key hires include:

Robert Maharias, appointed as the first head of Claude for Legal, marking an expansion into legal AI.
Andrej Karpathy, co-founder of OpenAI and former Tesla AI director, hired in May to lead a new team focused on using Claude to accelerate pre-training research.
Chris Rohlf, a cybersecurity veteran from Meta and Yahoo, joined earlier this year to strengthen the frontier red team.

Yang brings prior experience as an AI for Science Fellow at Renaissance Philanthropy and as an AI policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies. He began his career as a machine learning software engineer at SambaNova Systems.

Market Expectations and Valuation Debate

Supporters of Anthropic argue that strong demand for its advanced AI models justifies the lofty valuation expectations. Forecasts suggest the company's annual revenue could reach $100 billion to $120 billion by the end of 2026, representing more than a tenfold increase over the current year.

CNBC commentator Jim Cramer defended the reported $2 trillion valuation, stating it is justified if backed by strong revenues rather than indicating a market bubble. Cramer emphasized sustainable high multiples for fast-scaling AI companies, pushing back against criticism that dismissed the valuation out of hand.

How might Anthropic's $2 trillion valuation target influence investor sentiment and competitive dynamics in the broader AI sector ahead of its October IPO?

What specific regulatory or governance frameworks is the Anthropic Institute likely to propose to address the societal impacts of frontier AI?

Will Andrej Karpathy's leadership in pre-training research significantly accelerate Claude's capability development compared to competitors like OpenAI?