After protracted negotiations and conducting due diligence, US AI giant Anthropic has backed out of its planned $6 billion acquisition of Israeli AI startup Decart, people familiar with the matter have told "Bloomberg."
However, the companies may collaborate in other ways, "Bloomberg" reports, for example, Anthropic could become a customer or investor in Descat. This is a blow to the Israeli company founded by entrepreneurs Dean Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev, although they may decide to turn to negotiations with other companies.
Before the talks with Anthropic, Leitersdorf and Shalev rejected an offer from Nvidia, which was higher than Anthropic's. They and the company's shareholders preferred to agree instead to Anthropic's offer in shares, in anticipation of the AI company's IPO.
Decart has raised $450 million from investors such as Nvidia and Sequoia, Benchmark, Radical, and Zeev Ventures - who will now have to look for new buyers together with the company. The company was valued at about $4 billion last May during a private fundraising led by Nvidia.
This is also a blow to Israel’s AI industry. Anthropic - currently the fastest-growing AI company and a top candidate for an IPO - could have established R&D activities in Israel through the acquisition of Decart.
However, as reported last week in "Globes," the company still plans to step up its marketing and sales activities in the local market, while focusing on startups and veteran software companies.
Anthropic plans an IPO in the coming weeks, at an estimated valuation of $2 trillion. This is a morale blow for Decart, especially as the report in "Bloomberg" cited a unilateral withdrawal from the deal at the initiative of the potential buyer. The market estimates that although Nvidia made a higher offer, the AI giant has only just completed the acquisition of Hugging Face for $12.9 billion and it is doubtful that it will be able to make another acquisition at the amount the entrepreneurs and investors of Decart are asking.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 8, 2026.
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