By Golan Hazani, Sophie Shulman
Publication Date: 2026-08-16 04:21:00
The deal under which Anthropic would acquire Israeli AI startup Decart is nearing the signing stage, with the parties now exchanging advanced drafts of the agreement, Calcalist has learned. Anthropic, the artificial intelligence company founded by former OpenAI employees, is the preferred buyer of Decart’s founders, Dr. Dean Leitersdorf and Moshe Shalev. The founders and Sequoia Capital, Decart’s largest investor, believe Anthropic is best positioned to take the company into its next stage of growth.
Decart is expected to be valued at approximately $7 billion in the deal, with most of the consideration expected to be paid in Anthropic shares to Decart’s shareholders.
The timing is significant for Anthropic, which is preparing for a potential Nasdaq IPO. The company has already submitted a confidential prospectus, but publication of the filing has been delayed. The acquisition of Decart may have contributed to that delay.
Founded in 2023, Decart employs approximately 100 people and has raised $450 million to date.
Calcalist has also learned that advanced negotiations between Decart and Nvidia were halted after Anthropic emerged with its offer. Nvidia is believed to have offered a higher valuation than Anthropic, partly because it was already an investor in Decart.
But the identity of the buyer mattered to Decart’s shareholders. Anthropic currently has no development center in Israel, and an acquisition would effectively give…
