Conviction before consensus: Empress Capital in the AFR

Empress Capital leads the Australian Financial Review’s coverage of Australian investors holding Anthropic ahead of its anticipated Nasdaq listing.

Our investment came through the FTX bankruptcy estate, following the exchange’s collapse. At a time when few wanted to touch assets associated with FTX, we saw an opportunity to back a company that aligned with our investment thesis.

Anthropic sits alongside the other companies we have backed in Fund I, which has been 100% AI-focused by design. Our thesis has not moved in four years: safety, trust and taste are what will matter most in the age of AI.

The lesson is not “buy Anthropic”. It is that conviction built from first principles, before an opportunity is obvious, is the real edge a small fund has.

Conviction before consensus. Everything we are building at Empress, including what comes next, runs on that.

Read Yash Varma's post and join the conversation on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab).

Australian Financial Review illustration accompanying its report on Australian Anthropic investors
Image: the Australian Financial Review. Read the article in the Australian Financial Review (opens in a new tab).