Artificial intelligence startup Anthropic has appointed Krishna Rao as its first finance chief. Rao, who brings extensive experience from his previous roles as CFO at Fanatics Commerce and global head of corporate and business development at Airbnb, is set to play a crucial role as Anthropic aims to expand its AI offerings and strengthen its competitive stance in the industry.
Anthropic has been aggressively raising funds, securing billions from major cloud service providers such as Google and Amazon, along with various venture capital firms. This influx of capital is intended to help the company keep pace with rivals like Microsoft-backed OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT. The startup’s Claude AI models are direct competitors to OpenAI’s highly regarded GPT series, indicating to Anthropic's ambition in the generative AI sector.
The appointment of Rao follows closely on the heels of another significant hire: Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, who joined Anthropic as chief product officer last week.
According to reports, Anthropic is projected to achieve more than USD 850 million in annualised revenue by the end of 2024, reflecting its rapid advancement and the growing demand for its AI technologies.
(Inputs from Reuters)
