AI startup revenue hits $80 billion, but Anthropic and OpenAI take almost all of it
Anthropic and OpenAI now capture 89 percent of revenue among top AI startups, according to an analysis by The Information. A group of 34 AI startups is pulling in close to $80 billion in annual revenue, up 112 percent in six months. Anthropic recently passed OpenAI in revenue, largely thanks to its AI coding tools.
Some of those numbers are inflated, though. Anthropic shares revenue with Amazon and Google, and OpenAI has to hand 20 percent to Microsoft through 2030. Beyond the two leaders, Perplexity, ElevenLabs, and Cognition have each crossed the $500 million mark. Despite the growth, Anthropic and OpenAI alone burn through more than $30 billion a year, mostly on training costs.
Investors like Sequoia see the numbers as proof that most of the value in AI sits with the model makers, not pure app companies.
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