AI startup Anthropic is close to raising a fresh funding round of $3-$5 billion at a valuation of $170 billion, according to a Bloomberg report.

Iconiq Capital, a San Francisco-based investment group, is leading the round, and a second lead investor will also possibly join the round.

Anthropic has been in talks with Qatar Investment Authority and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund for the fundraise, per the report.

The startup, which was founded in 2021 by a group of former OpenAI employees, had last raised $3.5 billion at a $61.5 billion post-money valuation in March.

Lightspeed Venture Partners led that round with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, General Catalyst, Jane Street, Menlo Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.

The fresh fundraising comes as competition heats up with rivals OpenAI, xAI  and Perplexity. Meta's aggressive AI push in the past two months has further intensified the competition.

According to a Wired report earlier this month, OpenAI was seeking capital from new and existing investors as part of its $40 billion round announced in March.