Common investors: what connects the American giant Anthropic and the Indian unicorn Sarvam AI
At first glance, Anthropic (the developer of the popular neural network Claude) and the Indian startup Sarvam AI have little in common. One company is based in Silicon Valley, the other in Bangalore. However, a deep analysis of the shareholder structure reveals a striking pattern: they are funded by the same global venture capital funds. This is not just a coincidence, but a reflection of a new strategy in the artificial intelligence market.
The key link is Lightspeed Venture Partners. This fund not only led the Series E round for Anthropic at $3.5 billion in March 2025 (valuing the company at $61.5 billion), but is also a major shareholder in Sarvam AI. According to official documents from Indian regulators, Lightspeed, through its subsidiaries, holds stakes in the capital, preferred shares, and convertible bonds of Axonwise Private Limited, the legal entity operating Sarvam.
Parallels in Funding
Sarvam AI, founded in 2023 by former Google engineers Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, recently raised $234 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion. This makes it one of India's most successful AI projects. Notably, Lightspeed invested in both projects, essentially developing a direct competitor on different continents simultaneously.
But Lightspeed is not the only common investor. General Catalyst is also present in the capital of both companies. Their entry into the Indian market occurred in 2024 through the acquisition of the local fund Venture Highway, which already held Sarvam's Series A convertible bonds. At the same time, General Catalyst is also investing in the French startup Mistral AI, creating a global network of influence.
Another striking example is Khosla Ventures. This fund was the first venture investor in OpenAI, and today holds shares and preferred securities of Sarvam AI. Thus, the same players sit on the boards of directors of laboratories that formally compete with each other.
Expert opinion: This situation clearly demonstrates how consolidated the financing of the artificial intelligence sector has become. Large funds are no longer betting on a single "winner" — they are hedging risks by investing in all key players simultaneously. For the market, this means that competition between Anthropic, Sarvam AI, and other laboratories is largely a "shadow theater," where the real battle is for a share in the portfolios of the same investors. In the long term, this could lead to standardization of technologies and a slowdown in the pace of innovation, as funds will be interested in synergy rather than destructive competition.