(Getty Images)

AI startups’ high-velocity valuations are shooting sky-high

The race to invest in AI startups is pushing funding to new heights. Anthropic is reportedly close to a fundraising round with a $170 billion valuation, just five months after a $61.5 billion valuation.

Jon Keegan, Hyunsoo Rim

7/30/25 2:40PM

Investors are pouring billions into AI startups at a feverish pace, and valuations are shooting sky-high.

Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Anthropic is closing in on a $5 billion fundraising round, with an eye-popping valuation of $170 billion. That’s a 176% increase in five short months from its $61.5 billion valuation in March.

Anthropic’s sharp rise in value comes as its sales are increasing at a brisk pace. Bloomberg reports that the startup is pulling in $5 billion in annual recurring revenue, and that the company sees that reaching $9 billion by the end of the year.

OpenAI’s valuation roughly doubled over six months from $157 billion last October to $300 billion after raising $40 billion in a round led by SoftBank.

Middle East money

As AI companies look for deep-pocketed investors to help pay to train new models and build data centers, all eyes are pointing to sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East.

Wired reports that Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s cofounder and CEO, recently announced to staff that the company would pursue investments from Middle Eastern countries, despite earlier opposition.

During President Trump’s trip to the Middle East, a flurry of investments were announced, sending a clear signal that the taps were open.

Saudi Arabia’s Humain announced a deal with Nvidia to build 500 megawatts of AI data centers filled with the company’s GPUs, and OpenAI announced a partnership to build “Stargate UAE.” There were also reports that OpenAI has discussed raising money from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

And the rush to invest in AI isn’t just limited to the startups seeking to build foundational models. Companies deep in the AI ecosystem like Databricks and Scale AI are currently valued at $62 billion and $29 billion, respectively. Scale AI recently saw its CEO depart to run Meta’s “Superintelligence Lab”; it also secured a $14.3 billion investment from the company.

Jon Keegan5h

Google testing Gemini app for Mac, aims to compete with Claude Cowork and Codex

Bloomberg reports that Google is testing a new version of its Gemini AI app that runs on Apple’s Mac computers.

Currently both OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude have Mac apps, which allow for deeper AI automation with files on the computer.

Google is testing a feature called Desktop Intelligence, which grants Gemini access to the items on the user’s screen, according to the report. The app is currently in beta testing.

Google Begins Testing Gemini Mac App to Match ChatGPT and Claude

Google is testing a feature called Desktop Intelligence, which grants Gemini access to the items on the user’s screen, according to the report. The app is currently in beta testing.

Jon Keegan6h

Bezos seeks $100 billion for AI-enhanced manufacturing fund, WSJ reports

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is seeking to raise a $100 billion fund that would purchase manufacturing companies and use AI to automate their work processes, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal.

The fund would use technology from Project Prometheus, where Bezos was recently named co-CEO. The startup aims to apply the latest generative-AI breakthroughs to reinvent industrial manufacturing.

The $100 billion fund would be used to buy existing manufacturing businesses to transform, per the report.

Bezos has reportedly met with the heads of sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and recently traveled to Singapore as part of the fundraising effort.

Exclusive | Jeff Bezos in Talks to Raise $100 Billion for AI Manufacturing Fund

The $100 billion fund would be used to buy existing manufacturing businesses to transform, per the report.

Bezos has reportedly met with the heads of sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and recently traveled to Singapore as part of the fundraising effort.

Jon Keegan10h

OpenAI acquires Astral, adding talent to Codex team

OpenAI has acquired open-source Python tool developer Astral, bringing aboard additional coding talent for its Codex team.

The company said the acquisition will help Codex “expand beyond coding” by helping address a wider range of development tasks, such as planning, testing, and code maintenance.

OpenAI said Codex has seen “3x user growth and 5x usage increase” since the start of 2026, and has over 2 million weekly active users.

Software development is emerging as one of the key battlegrounds where OpenAI is competing for market share with Anthropic, which has been enjoying success with its Claude Code product.

OpenAI said it will continue to support Astral’s open-source software projects.

OpenAI to acquire Astral

OpenAI said Codex has seen “3x user growth and 5x usage increase” since the start of 2026, and has over 2 million weekly active users.

Software development is emerging as one of the key battlegrounds where OpenAI is competing for market share with Anthropic, which has been enjoying success with its Claude Code product.

OpenAI said it will continue to support Astral’s open-source software projects.

Rani Molla10h

Elon Musk gives an estimate for Tesla’s AI6 chip timeline... while the AI5 is still unfinished

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said yesterday that the company’s AI6 chip could, with “some luck and acceleration using AI,” be finalized and sent to manufacturing by December. For those paying attention, Tesla hasn’t confirmed that its previous chip, the AI5, has reached tape-out, with Musk saying only that the design is in “good shape” and “almost done.” Still, Musk is already talking about subsequent chips AI6, AI7, AI8, and beyond.

Here’s a roundup of when these chips are expected, what they’re supposed to do, and what Musk himself has said about them.

While the AI5 and AI6 will be made by TSMC and Samsung, respectively, Musk has said Tesla eventually aims to manufacture its future AI chips at Tesla’s upcoming Terafab factory in Austin.

Rani Molla13h

NHTSA expands Tesla FSD probe, focusing on whether system can detect when cameras can’t see the road

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is expanding its probe into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system into an engineering analysis covering about 3.2 million Teslas, a majority of its vehicles that are on the road in the US, Reuters reports.

The agency is focusing on Tesla’s “degradation detection system,” which is meant to recognize when its camera-based technology cannot reliably perceive the road and prompt drivers to intervene:

“Available incident data raise concerns that Tesla’s degradation detection system, both as originally deployed and later updated, fails to detect and/or warn the driver appropriately under degraded visibility conditions such as glare and airborne obscurants. In the crashes that ODI has reviewed, the system did not detect common roadway conditions that impaired camera visibility and/or provide alerts when camera performance had deteriorated until immediately before the crash occurred.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has long argued that the company’s self-driving approach does not require the expensive lidar sensors used by rivals such as Waymo.

NHTSA deepens probe into Tesla's driver-assistance system