A Major Anthropic Backer Quintuples an AI Math Startup’s Valuation in New Deal

Investors usually fund startups based on metrics involving revenue, profits or product usage. But investors backing newer AI research startups that are taking on Anthropic and OpenAI have to rely on other measures of success, such as incremental research breakthroughs or recent talent hirings. 

One example is AI math startup Axiom, which is raising more than $100 million in new funding led by Menlo Ventures, a major Anthropic backer, at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to a person involved in the round. Axiom aims to develop AI that makes new discoveries in mathematics and would eventually be used to make breakthroughs in other domains. Last year the company hired several math-focused AI researchers from Meta Platforms. 

Axiom is showing progress. In January, the company said a model it developed had hit new milestones in math achievement. And the new funding it is now raising would value the 10-month-old company at five times the valuation it garnered in October when it raised a seed funding round, which also included Menlo, the person said. 

Axiom still isn’t generating revenue, the person said. But that’s par for the course. Young neolab startups like Axiom may take years before developing a commercial product with revenue. As a result, investors such as Menlo are using other metrics to measure their progress. (In the cases of Humans& or Ineffable Intelligence, for example, investors looked to big-name hires when backing the startup.)