Anthropic Nears $7B Annualized Revenue, Eyes $9B by Year-End

AI firm Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, is approaching $7 billion in annualized revenue this month, up from around $5 billion in July, according to a company spokesperson. The company projects that figure will climb to $9 billion by year-end and reach between $20 billion and $26 billion by the end of 2026, per Reuters. Those targets are significantly higher than earlier projections shared with investors, which forecast between $2 billion and $4 billion in revenue this year and up to $12 billion by 2026. The company recently raised $13 billion at a $170 billion valuation, in a round co-led by Iconiq Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Fidelity Management. Anthropic is an underlying asset of VenCap 6, VenCap 13B, VenCap 15, VenCap 16 and VenCap 17.

Cursor Eyes $1B Raise Led by Coatue and Accel at $27B Valuation

AI coding assistant Cursor, developed by Anysphere, is set for a major funding round that could raise at least $1 billion at a $27 billion valuation, according to people familiar with the talks. The investment would bring Coatue Management on board for the first time and deepen Accel’s existing stake, following its June investment at a $9.9 billion valuation. The new capital would add to Anysphere’s $800 million cash reserves as it ramps up model training to power Cursor’s expanding capabilities. Cursor is an underlying asset of VenCap 16, VenCap 17 and VenCap 18.

Deel Raises $300M at $17B Valuation Despite Rival’s Espionage Allegations

HR software company Deel has secured a $300 million funding round, boosting its valuation to $17 billion, as it continues to win backing from top Silicon Valley investors amid a legal battle with competitor Rippling. Deel has been profitable for three years, recently surpassing $100 million in monthly revenue in September with earnings of $15–17 million in EBITDA, reflecting a 70% annual growth rate. Andreessen partner Anish Acharya said Deel could be a “public market company in the very near term”. Deel is an underlying asset of VenCap 6, VenCap 13B, VenCap 15, VenCap 16 and VenCap 17

Poolside in Talks to Raise $2B at $12B Valuation, Expands into AI Infrastructure

Poolside, a two-year-old startup known for its AI coding assistants, is in talks to raise around $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation in a deal that would bring in Magnetar, a major backer of CoreWeave, as a new investor, according to The Information. The fresh funding comes as Poolside undergoes a major strategic shift toward building foundation models and the infrastructure to train them. Earlier this week, the company announced plans for a 250-megawatt data centre in West Texas, where CoreWeave will be the anchor tenant under a 15-year lease, with capacity to expand by another 500 megawatts. CoreWeave will also provide access to over 40,000 Nvidia GPUs, with proceeds from the new funding helping cover those costs. Poolside is an underlying asset of VenCap 6 and VenCap 16.

Reflection AI Raises $2B at $8B Valuation to Build an Open Source Frontier Model

AI startup Reflection AI, founded in 2024 by ex-Google DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou, has raised $2 billion at an $8 billion valuation, a staggering 15x increase from just seven months ago. Initially focused on autonomous coding agents, the company now aims to be an open-source alternative to frontier labs like OpenAI and Anthropic — and a Western counterpart to Chinese leaders such as DeepSeek. Reflection AI is an underlying asset of VenCap 6 and VenCap 16.