Israel is not a leader in the crowded field of artificial intelligence model development, but Clal Insurance has found a way to gain exposure to one of its rising stars. Calcalist has learned that Clal took part in Anthropic’s massive $13 billion fundraising round announced last week, securing a foothold in one of the most sought-after private deals in the U.S.
Clal invested $55 million in the round, most of it from members’ money and a small portion from Nostro. The investment is notable given the extraordinary demand surrounding Anthropic’s fundraising and the limited access for new investors.
Anthropic, the American company behind Claude, one of today’s most widely used chatbots, initially targeted $5 billion for the round, but strong demand quickly pushed it to $10 billion and ultimately to $13 billion. Against this backdrop, the participation of an Israeli insurer alongside global giants from Silicon Valley and Wall Street is striking. The round was led by Iconiq, Fidelity, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. According to capital market estimates, Clal gained access via Iconiq and was asked to commit funds within just a few days. Other major participants included Insight Partners, a frequent backer of Israeli startups, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).
The financing was conducted at a valuation of $183 billion, making Anthropic one of the most valuable AI startups in the world. It follows a $5 billion round earlier this year, led by Lightspeed, at a $61 billion valuation. These dizzying valuations have fueled debate in the U.S. about whether a bubble is forming around AI. At the same time, OpenAI is in the midst of a secondary share sale that could push its valuation to $500 billion, cementing it as the world’s most valuable startup. Elon Musk’s xAI is also seeking a valuation of up to $200 billion.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic has grown into a key player in the global AI sector. The company specializes in advanced language models and has experienced rapid business expansion. Annual revenue climbed from $1 billion at the start of 2025 to more than $5 billion by August, with 300,000 business customers. Its programming tool, Claude Code, has become a cornerstone of that growth, generating more than $500 million annually and seeing usage rise tenfold in the past three months.
But sustaining this momentum requires massive capital. Training and operating large language models can cost up to $10 billion, according to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and industry rivals are spending at similar scales. Over the weekend, reports suggested OpenAI is on track to burn through $115 billion by 2029. Competition is intensifying, with Google and Amazon also investing in Anthropic, while rolling out their own coding assistants and generative AI products.
Confirming the investment, Barak Benski, Deputy CEO and Head of the Investment Division at Clal, said: “The investment in Anthropic demonstrates Clal Insurance’s ability to invest in global private companies that are at the forefront of technology, through relationships with leading investment institutions. This is part of our technology investment strategy, and we believe it will create significant value for our members.” The deal at Clal was led by Avital Cohen, Head of the Direct Investments Department, together with Katya Zbar, Head of the Investment Funds branch.