Anthropic nears $6 billion deal for Israeli AI startup Decart, creating new billionaires

Anthropic is in final talks to acquire Israeli AI startup Decart for up to $6 billion, mostly in shares. Founders Dean Leitersdorf, Moshe Shalev, and Orian Leitersdorf hold about 64% of the company, valued at roughly $4 billion, with each expected to receive $1-1.5 billion. The deal would be Anthropic's first activity in Israel, with Decart becoming an R&D center. Nvidia's higher offer of $7-8 billion was rejected. Israeli tax authorities could collect about NIS 4.2 billion from the founders' shares.

Anthropic, the US AI company behind Claude, is in the final stages of acquiring Israeli AI startup Decart for up to $6 billion, a deal that would create at least two new billionaires. The founders, Dean Leitersdorf, Moshe Shalev, and Orian Leitersdorf, who joined as chief scientist last year, hold a combined stake of about 64%, valued at roughly $4 billion on paper. Each founder is expected to receive between $1 billion and $1.5 billion, slightly less than the Wiz founders received from Google. The deal is structured mostly in Anthropic shares, with only a few hundred million dollars in cash, as Decart's shareholders believe they can achieve higher returns from Anthropic's planned IPO, which could value the company at $2 trillion. The acquisition would be Anthropic's first activity in Israel, with Decart continuing as an R&D center focused on improving model efficiency across various chips. The deal also has significant tax implications for the founders, with potential state revenues estimated at NIS 4.2 billion.