Video conferencing company Zoom Communications Inc. made an investment in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic PBC early in 2023, which has now generated approximately $1 billion in gains for the company. According to regulatory filings disclosed on Friday, Zoom's stake in the rapidly growing AI firm is valued at around $1.27 billion. This valuation is expected to rise further as Anthropic completes a new round of funding as early as next week.

Since early 2023, when Zoom partnered with Anthropic to integrate its Claude model into its own systems and invested in the company, the value of this holding has grown exponentially. Zoom has been actively incorporating additional AI features, such as launching an AI assistant for the workplace. Since the investment, Anthropic has become one of the fastest-growing and most prominent companies globally.

Zoom currently values its Anthropic stake based on the latter's $38 billion valuation from a funding round in February of this year. Earlier reports indicated that Anthropic is close to completing a new funding round at a valuation exceeding $90 billion. Zoom had initially disclosed a new strategic investment of $51 million in early 2023 alongside announcing the partnership with Anthropic, though it was not specified at the time whether all of that amount was directed to Anthropic. In Friday's filing, Zoom revealed that it had made an additional investment of $46 million in Anthropic in recent months.

Following Zoom's earnings report on Thursday, KeyBanc analyst Jackson Ader noted in a research report that this well-timed investment in a potential industry giant has recently contributed to a rise in the company's stock price. The strong earnings report has also helped restore Wall Street's confidence in Zoom's diversified product portfolio.