Anthropic Walks Away From $6B Decart Deal Despite Due Diligence

Anthropic has abandoned a proposed $6 billion acquisition of AI startup Decart, according to sources familiar with the talks. The Claude maker had progressed to the due diligence stage before ultimately deciding against the purchase.

Bloomberg first reported the development late Monday, citing multiple people with knowledge of the discussions. Representatives for Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Decart specialises in chip optimisation technology aimed at reducing the expense of training and running AI models. The startup also develops world simulation models with applications spanning autonomous vehicles and online retail.

In the eCommerce space, Decart's Lucy AI model enables shoppers to try on clothing and accessories virtually — a feature aimed at cutting returns and improving customer confidence in online purchases.

The acquisition would have marked Anthropic's largest deal to date and represented an unusually aggressive move for a company that has historically grown organically. Industry observers had viewed the potential purchase as a way to shore up computing infrastructure amid surging demand for Claude.

Anthropic is reportedly preparing for what could become the largest initial public offering in history, with some estimates suggesting a $2 trillion valuation. The company has been investing heavily in compute capacity to support both new product development and its expanding user base.

Earlier this year, Anthropic released a suite of blueprints designed to help retailers build AI shopping assistants and automate tasks like inventory management and dynamic pricing.

The aborted deal comes as consumers increasingly turn to AI tools for shopping research. According to PYMNTS Intelligence research on millennial shopping behaviour, ChatGPT has emerged as the second most popular product discovery channel at 41% usage, trailing only Google at 57% but surpassing Amazon at 37%.

The shift matters less because AI has replaced traditional search — it hasn't — and more because it now competes with marketplaces and social platforms at the critical stage when shoppers narrow their options. That dynamic pulls product discovery outside merchants' own properties earlier in the purchase journey.

Millennials employ a mix of AI assistants, search engines, marketplaces, merchant apps and physical stores for shopping, with the specific blend varying based on product category and purchase context.