With AI, investor loyalty is (almost) dead: At least a dozen OpenAI VCs now also back Anthropic  | TechCrunch

With OpenAI on the verge of finalizing a new $100 billion round, and Anthropic just closing its own monster $30 billion raise, one thing is clear: The concept of investor “loyalty” is only hanging on by a thread.  At least a dozen direct investors in OpenAI were announced as backers in Anthropic’s $30 billion raise 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 manager worlds, where their focus is still largely investing in public stocks (competitors or not). These include D1, Fidelity, and TPG.   One of these was a bit shocking. Affiliated funds of BlackRock joined in Anthropic’s $30 billion raise even though BlackRock’s senior managing director and board member Adebayo Ogunlesi is also on OpenAI’s board of directors.  In that world, it’s true that if various BlackRock funds get a chance to own OpenAI stock, they are likely to take it, never mind the personal association of a member of their senior leadership. (BlackRock runs every type of fund, including mutuals, closed-ends, and ETFs). And we all know the history of OpenAI and Microsoft’s relationship and why Microsoft is hedging its bets. Ditto for Nvidia.  But venture capital funds have — until now — operated differently. VCs market themselves as “founder friendly” and “helpful,” the idea being that when a VC firm buys a chunk of a startup’s company, the investor will help that startup be su...