Jan 7 (Reuters) - AI startup Anthropic is in advanced

talks to raise $2 billion in a deal valuing the OpenAI rival at

$60 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing

people familiar with the matter.

Venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners is leading

the funding round, the report said. Anthropic was valued at

around $18 billion in a fundraise led by Menlo Ventures in 2024.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to a Reuters request

for comment.

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) late last year doubled its

investment in the startup to $8 billion, as the e-commerce giant

went up against Big Tech rivals in a race to capitalize on

generative artificial intelligence technology.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika

Syamnath)