AI has no "loyalty"! More than 10 OpenAI institutional shareholders participated in the latest round of fundraising from "archenemy" Anthropic

# Long Yue

Following Anthropic’s completion of a **$30 billion** funding round, more than 10 OpenAI shareholders — including Sequoia Capital and Founders Fund — have made a rare “dual bet.” Even BlackRock, which holds a board seat at OpenAI, participated in the financing of its rival. In response to this capital shift, Sam Altman has made it clear that shareholders making **non-passive investments** will lose access to OpenAI’s confidential business information.

As OpenAI nears finalizing a new funding round of roughly **$100 billion**, Anthropic has just closed a massive $30 billion round. What has drawn even greater market attention is that **at least 12 direct institutional investors in OpenAI** are also listed as backers in Anthropic’s latest funding round.

This list of “dual-investing” institutions includes not only hedge funds and asset managers such as D1, Fidelity, and TPG that typically pursue hedged bets, but — more strikingly — top-tier venture capital firms that traditionally pick sides, such as Founders Fund, Iconiq, Insight Partners, and Sequoia Capital.

Photo: At a recent AI Summit in India, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei stood side-by-side during a group photo but refused to shake hands.

## BlackRock’s “Dual Identity”

The most high-profile conflict of interest comes from global asset management giant **BlackRock**.

Although Adebayo Ogunlesi, Senior Managing Director and board member at BlackRock, currently sits on OpenAI’s board, affiliated funds under BlackRock still participated in Anthropic’s $30 billion funding round.

In public markets, it is common for asset managers to hold shares in competing companies, and Microsoft and NVIDIA’s broad hedged positions across various AI firms are well known. For venture capital (VC), however, this represents an **upending of traditional industry norms**.

VC firms have long branded themselves as “founder-friendly” and “supportive.” The core logic is: when a VC holds a large stake in a startup, it commits fully to helping the company compete against its main rivals. Additionally, as private companies, startups typically disclose confidential business data to direct investors that public companies would not make public.

Today, that line has blurred.

“If you own both OpenAI and Anthropic, who can you be loyal to — other than your own LPs?”

One investor interviewed stated bluntly:

“As long as the firm does not hold a board seat, people no longer see harm in it.”

## OpenAI’s “Blacklist”

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman understands venture capital deeply. As the former president of Y Combinator, he warned early about this trend.

According to tech media outlet **TechCrunch**, Altman provided investors in 2024 with a list of OpenAI competitors he preferred they not support, including Anthropic, xAI, and Safe Superintelligence — all founded by former OpenAI employees.

Although Altman later denied excluding investors from future funding rounds for backing rivals, he drew a **red line** when it came to information disclosure involving core interests.

As revealed in documents from Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI, Altman admitted he had clearly informed investors:

> “If they make non-passive investments, they will no longer receive confidential business information from OpenAI.”

## Capital Can Hardly Say “No”

The unique nature of the AI industry is breaking all established models. Large AI labs are experiencing unprecedented growth, while also facing record funding gaps needed to build data centers.

The analysis argues that when funding needs are this massive, and potential returns equally astronomical, it is difficult to expect investors to say “no.”

Even so, not all VCs have slid down the slope of “dual betting.”

- **Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)** currently backs OpenAI and has not invested in Anthropic.

- **Menlo Ventures** backs Anthropic and has not invested in OpenAI.

- **Bessemer, General Catalyst, and Greenoaks** also appear to have directly invested in only one of the two so far.

Nonetheless, respected Silicon Valley institutions such as Sequoia Capital breaking this long-standing rule signals a **fundamental shift in market conditions**.

For founders, conflict of interest policies must now become a key point of scrutiny before signing — no matter who the term sheet comes from.

Source: Wall Street CN

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