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Anthropic Valuation Hits $183 Billion
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. AI company Anthropic zipped through its new fundraising, collecting $13 billion in a Series F round at a $183 billion post-money valuation.
New investor Iconiq co-led the financing together with returning backers Fidelity Management & Research and Lightspeed Venture Partners.
A slew of other investment groups, many of them crossover firms that invest in private and public markets, filled out the rest of the syndicate. Anthropic also turned to Middle East capital, including from the Qatar Investment Authority, in this deal.
Anthropic’s valuation has nearly tripled since March, when it was $61.5 billion.
The company began fundraising earlier this summer. It initially targeted $5 billion, but the round generated as much as $25 billion in investor demand, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The round reflects a fever pitch of investor demand for top private developers of generative artificial intelligence models, as well as a need for capital at these companies as they face high computing infrastructure costs.
The entire round was made up of primary capital, with no secondary components.
Read the rest of the article here.
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And now on to the news...
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Best known as a ‘buy now, pay later’ lender, Klarna is making a push to become a full-fledged bank. PHOTO: STEFANI REYNOLDS/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Klarna lines up IPO. Klarna said it could raise as much as $1.46 billion as it launched its long-awaited initial public offering Tuesday.
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A specialty lending and online payments provider, Klarna said 34.3 million ordinary shares will be offered, with the potential for a further 5.1 million offered in an overallotment option. Shares are expected to be priced between $35 and $37 each.
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The company would have a market value of around $14 billion at the top end of the pricing range based on the outstanding number of ordinary shares listed in its U.S. registration filing.
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70%
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Approximiately the percentage of people in a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll who said the American dream no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys.
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Google Dodges Worst Penalties in U.S. Antitrust Case
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Google avoided harsh penalties for antitrust violations in the U.S. search market, with a judge barring the company from entering into exclusive deals but rejecting a forced spinoff of its Chrome browser and other sweeping remedies sought by the Justice Department. U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in a Tuesday ruling said Google can’t pay to be the exclusive search engine on devices and browsers, but he allowed the company to continue making payments for distribution of its products, saying such a move would harm recipients such as Apple.
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The Less You Know About AI, the More Likely You Are to Use It
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When it comes to most new technologies, early adopters tend to be the people who know and understand the tools the best. With artificial intelligence, the opposite seems to be true.
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This counterintuitive finding comes from new research, which suggests that those most drawn to AI tend to be those who understand the technology least. AI seems mysterious, even magical, to these people, the researchers found, leading to a sense of awe regarding AI’s ability to complete tasks. This is particularly true when the task is traditionally associated with human attributes, such as writing a poem or creating a new fusion recipe.
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People
Early-stage investor Shine Capital promoted Ethan Daly to general partner. Prior to joining the firm in 2020, he was an investment banker at Allen & Co.
Cybersecurity startup Cymulate appointed Yiftah Yoffe as chief human resources officer. He previously served as CHRO at Check Point.
Deals
ChatGPT maker OpenAI agreed to purchase product-testing startup Statsig. Vijaye Raji, founder and chief executive officer of Statsig, will assume the role of chief technology officer of applications at OpenAI after the deal closes.
Exits
Varonis acquired SlashNext, an email-security provider using AI to detect phishing and social-engineering attacks.
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Kapital, a Mexico City-based banking platform for small and medium-sized businesses in Latin America, closed on up to $100 million in Series C funding from investors including Tribe Capital. The latest investment brings the company’s valuation up to $1.3 billion.
HappyRobot, a San Francisco-based AI workforce startup, scored $44 million in Series B funding. Base10 Partners led the round, which included participation from Andreessen Horowitz and others.
Utila, a New York-based digital asset operations platform for stablecoins, closed a $22 million Series A extension round, bringing the round total to $40 million. Red Dot Capital Partners led the funding, which included additional contributions from Nyca Partners, Wing and others.
Kite, a San Francisco-based startup building foundational infrastructure for agentic internet, secured $18 million in Series A financing led by PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst.
Artificial Societies, a London-based startup providing an AI societal simulator to the market-research industry, landed nearly $5.4 million in funding, including almost $3.4 million in seed financing led by Point72 Ventures.
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Swarmer drone technology is tested in Ukraine. PHOTO: JUSTYNA MIELNIKIEWICZ FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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