ChainThink report, May 9: According to The Wall Street Journal, Anthropic is preparing a super fundraising round with an estimated valuation potentially surpassing $90 billion. Its inaugural CFO, Krishna Rao, has adopted unconventional tactics, repeatedly advising investors that "no funding is currently available," rejecting the highest market valuations offered, opting to raise less capital than anticipated, and providing conservative revenue forecasts.

Rao joined Anthropic in May 2024, having previously worked at Airbnb and Blackstone. During the 2020 pandemic outbreak, he swiftly secured a $1 billion lifeline for Airbnb. While at Blackstone, his experience with Texas Hold'em earned him the nickname "Chairman Rao" among colleagues.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is known for his distinctive style, while Rao is tasked with managing the operational stability behind the scenes.

Currently, due to the explosive popularity of Claude Code, Anthropic's monthly recurring revenue (MRR) has surged past $30 billion as of April. Rao now faces a critical decision on whether to lock in multi-billion-dollar compute contracts ahead of schedule for 2027–2029, all while experiencing extreme personal strain.