OpenAI raises $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, Shield AI will buy Echodyne for $5.3 billion, and more - AI Funding Brief #90

In this edition, covering 3 to 9 November:

• OpenAI raised $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, in a round that could grow to about $20 billion, and Isomorphic Labs is reportedly in talks to raise $5 billion at $50 billion.
• Shield AI will buy Echodyne for $5.3 billion and raise $2.5 billion at a $28.8 billion valuation, and Zipline raised $1.5 billion at $21.5 billion.
• Anthropic's revenue run rate topped $80 billion in October, while IPO investors reportedly lowered their valuation expectations to $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion; on 10 November Anthropic set a price range of $70 to $78 a share.

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The largest rounds

OpenAI has raised $11 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuation, in a round that could still grow to about $20 billion. Isomorphic Labs, the Google DeepMind spinout, is discussing a $5 billion round at a $50 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg, and the terms could change. Shield AI will buy radar maker Echodyne for $5.3 billion and raise $2.5 billion, including $1 billion in Series H funding at a $28.8 billion valuation. OpenAI · Isomorphic Labs · Shield AI

Zipline raised $1.5 billion at a $21.5 billion valuation from investors led by Paradigm, WCM Investment Management and Layer Global, and Walmart will add 300 Zipline delivery sites. Axon will invest about $1.2 billion in Skydio at a $5.2 billion pre money valuation and become its exclusive public safety distributor in the United States and Canada. Nooks secured a $500 million commitment from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund, which gives General Catalyst a share of the returns its capital generates. Zipline · Skydio · Nooks

Applied Compute raised $350 million at a $3.25 billion valuation in a round led by Elad Gil, and says it reached a $100 million annualized revenue run rate within 18 months of its founding. Beijing based Sand.ai raised $200 million in a Series A extension led by CoStone Capital and Wangsu Science & Technology, at a valuation above $1 billion. Capital One Ventures led a $150 million strategic investment in agentic data security company Sentra, and a Capital One representative will join its board. Applied Compute · Sand.ai · Sentra

Denmark's EIFO joined TEKEVER's $580 million Series D, announced at a $6.4 billion valuation, and TEKEVER will open its first Nordic operation in Odense. Ocient raised a $100 million Series C co led by BOKA Capital and OCA Ventures for its OcientAIQ platform, bringing its total funding to $260 million. Future Secure AI raised US$80 million in convertible notes at a US$1.2 billion valuation, backed by Square Peg, Yarra Capital Management, Macquarie Asset Management and Firetrail. TEKEVER · Ocient · Future Secure AI

Thinking Machines Lab is seeking $5 billion at a $40 billion valuation with Accel to lead, Business Insider reports, after an attempt at $50 billion broke down. Groq is seeking an $8 billion valuation in a Series B round led by executive chairman Alex Davis, more than double its $3.5 billion valuation from August. Nominal raised $240 million in a Series C led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Insight Partners, tripling its valuation to $3 billion, for AI software that analyzes hardware testing data. Thinking Machines Lab · Groq · Nominal

Anthropic

Anthropic set a price range of $70 to $78 a share for its Nasdaq IPO of 825 million Class A shares in an amended prospectus filed on 10 November; Anthropic sells 801 million of the shares and existing holders sell the rest. The filing also describes a planned $26 billion private placement with AMD, Broadcom, Google, Micron, Microsoft, Nvidia and TSMC Partners. IPO price range

Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate exceeded $80 billion at the end of October, according to The Wall Street Journal, above forecasts in the $70 billion range. Anthropic reported a $567 million operating loss for the quarter ended 30 September, after $974 million in operating income a quarter earlier, mainly because of $5 billion in short term compute commitments. Anthropic reported an 85.4% gross margin on US$16.3 billion of first half revenue, and HSBC analysts found it earned US$2.08 for every US$1 spent on compute. Run rate · Q3 loss · Gross margin

Potential investors reportedly questioned whether Anthropic's roadshow can begin the week of 9 November after a tech selloff, with valuation talks at $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion. In a later report, investors expected a valuation of $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion, below the earlier $1.5 trillion target. Anthropic is reportedly presenting Claude's chip design abilities to investors and has approached electronic design automation firms for chip design data. Delay risk · Lower valuation · Chip design

Denmark's $25 billion AkademikerPension plans to buy Anthropic shares in the IPO, citing the company's governance and safety commitments. ProShares plans two Anthropic ETFs, ANTU at 2x and ANTY at minus 2x the daily returns, to launch after the IPO. Ramp data shows spending among the heaviest AI users stayed subdued in August and September, as lower OpenAI and Anthropic prices and enterprise discounts weigh on revenue growth. AkademikerPension · ProShares · Ramp data

Morningstar estimates Anthropic's equity value at $1.7 trillion in its base case, with bull and bear cases of slightly more than $3 trillion and $500 billion. S&P Global Ratings cut Akamai Technologies to BB+ from BBB-, saying Akamai's decision to fund capital spending for its expanded $11.6 billion, seven year Anthropic cloud contract entirely with debt will raise leverage beyond investment grade levels. Morningstar · Akamai downgrade

OpenAI and other IPO plans

OpenAI president Greg Brockman said at a Wall Street Journal conference that the company could be ready to go public in 2027, and that most of its revenue now comes from enterprise sales. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said the company will keep investing in AI infrastructure after US voters rejected data center proposals in the midterm elections. Harvey and Legora are reportedly speaking with banks and other advisers about possible IPOs, and Legora says it is too early to discuss a timeline. Tokyo based Sakana AI is preparing to list in Japan or the United States as early as autumn 2027, with Goldman Sachs advising, Nikkei reports, and Sakana AI has not confirmed the plan. OpenAI IPO · OpenAI data centers · Harvey and Legora · Sakana AI

Acquisitions

Meta bought Conductor, a startup founded in 2024 that helps developers run several AI coding agents at once, for undisclosed terms. OpenAI will buy developer tools startup Pierre Computer and add its Code Storage function to Codex, and Pierre's open source projects stay available. Mistral AI bought French AI coding startup SkipLabs, its fifth acquisition in 2026, and the SkipLabs team joins chief scientist Guillaume Lample. Conductor · Pierre Computer · SkipLabs

Siemens agreed to buy Germany based Lauterbach, which makes embedded software debugging and trace tools, to combine them with its hardware assisted chip verification tools; terms were not disclosed and closing is expected in the first half of 2027. Lauterbach

Ada and Dialpad agreed to an all share merger that values Toronto based Ada at about $600 million. Five9 will buy Level AI for $325 million in cash and add its customer service intelligence and agent tools to its Genius CX Platform. Dropbox is buying Tigris Data for $350 million to support DBX Agent Cloud, with closing expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. Ada and Dialpad · Level AI · Tigris Data

Palo Alto Networks is negotiating to buy Israeli startup Clutch Security, which secures credentials used by AI agents, for about $500 million, and the talks may not lead to a deal. Palo Alto Networks is also in talks to buy Beacon Security, an Israeli startup founded in 2024 that builds AI agents for threat detection and response. AI cybersecurity company Doppel bought Y Combinator backed PropRise, and its co founders join Doppel's engineering team. Vanta signed an agreement to buy Israeli AI security startup Pillar Security for about $150 million in cash and shares, and Pillar will become its Israeli research and development center. Clutch Security · Beacon Security · PropRise · Vanta and Pillar

DocuSign bought Seattle based Suplari for undisclosed terms to add spending and supplier data analysis to its contract platform and Iris AI engine. AI data platform Chord bought Zenlytic, which doubles its revenue and adds customers including Verizon, J.Crew, Domino's and Stanley Black & Decker. Sierra bought Anon, whose technology handles website sign ins, form filling and multi factor authentication for enterprise AI agents. Suplari · Zenlytic · Anon

Analog Devices completed its purchase of Alif Semiconductor, adding AI native microcontrollers and fusion processors to its portfolio. EnterpriseDB bought Altinity and plans integrated ClickHouse capabilities in EDB Postgres AI in the fourth quarter of 2026. Copado bought Valo.ai, which helps Salesforce teams find dormant integrations, excessive access and other compliance risks. Alif Semiconductor · Altinity · Valo.ai

Amsterdam based Fourthline and Spain based Veridas are merging, and AshGrove is investing €40 million in Fourthline as part of a funding package of up to €65 million. Cognizant completed its purchase of Wizeline, an AI focused digital engineering firm, for undisclosed terms. JLL bought data center consultancy VIPA Digital, whose team joins its Work Dynamics division. Fourthline and Veridas · Wizeline · VIPA Digital

Priority Software bought Fireberry to add AI CRM, sales, marketing automation and customer service tools to its cloud ERP portfolio. VisiQuate bought Finvi's Artiva HCx revenue cycle business, including its workflow platform, team and clients. Andavi Solutions bought Bengaluru based Infilect, which provides image recognition and agentic AI for consumer goods and beverage companies. Fireberry · Artiva HCx · Infilect

AVENIR GLOBAL bought Marker Collective from Next 15 Group, including three communications agencies and an AI platform that turns news and social media coverage into executive insights. Asper.ai, a Fractal company, bought key talent, analytics assets and more than 650 commercial execution plans from Pricing One. Cognex says its planned purchase of RealSense, valued at about $500 million, remains on track to close in the fourth quarter. Marker Collective · Pricing One · RealSense

Robots and defense

China's National Development and Reform Commission blocked SoftBank's $5.4 billion purchase of ABB's robotics business over concerns that robotics data could be sent abroad for AI training. SoftBank and ABB are now considering a separate ownership structure for the China business, which could be valued at $2 billion to $3 billion, and ABB is also weighing another buyer. Agility Robotics began trading on Nasdaq after its $465 million SPAC financing, and its shares fell to $8.40 before recovering to $10.68. ABB deal blocked · China carve out · Agility Robotics

Construction and robotics companies raised about $1.6 billion through 29 October 2026, more than three times the previous peak, with Bedrock Robotics raising $870 million across two rounds. Humble Robotics raised $51 million led by Obvious Ventures for cabless self driving trucks and plans customer pilots in the first quarter of 2027. South Korean physical AI company URobotics raised about USD 30 million in a Series A co led by Kiwoom Investment and K2 Investment Partners. Construction robotics · Humble Robotics · URobotics

Corridian raised $38 million in seed funding led by Point72 Ventures for crewless underwater vehicles that carry military payloads across thousands of nautical miles. Physicl, founded by former nfinite CEO Alex de Vigan, raised $10 million from Inovia Capital for simulations and synthetic training data for robot builders. Veteran Ventures Capital led a $6.95 million seed round in Aformic, which makes autonomous mobile robots and the Qursor fleet management software. Corridian · Physicl · Aformic

Pune based Peppermint Robotics raised Rs 100 crore led by pi Ventures and Crane Venture Partners for floor cleaning and material transport robots. Chengdu based RuixinXing Technology raised tens of millions of yuan from Sinovation Ventures and others for embodied AI systems for industrial picking and material handling. New York based Shackleton AI raised $5 million in seed funding led by Battery Ventures for AI agents that handle construction project administration. Peppermint Robotics · RuixinXing · Shackleton AI

Hanwha Systems is expected to lead a 70 billion won commitment in robot dog maker LionRobotics' 100 billion won Series B, ChosunBiz reports. Bremen satellite startup Marble Imaging raised €6 million led by Cherry Ventures and already sells AI analytics to defence and security customers. LionRobotics · Marble Imaging

Data centers, chips and energy

Microsoft is ending a 2023 AI computing lease with Oracle after declining to renew it, as part of a review of more than $80 billion in external cloud commitments. ING is auctioning about 12 data center loans worth about $500 million, including a $25 million stake in the Stargate project in New Mexico, with bids due by 19 November. Goodman Group and Digital Realty offered AU$9.50 per share, AU$715 million in total, for 9.9% of NextDC and say they will not seek control. Microsoft and Oracle · ING loans · NextDC

Hut 8 commercialized the second phase of its Beacon Point campus, lifting expected base term contract value to $19.6 billion, and agreed to buy two Texas data center sites. Aker CEO Øyvind Eriksen called Microsoft's cancelled Nscale capacity agreement a minor contract and said Nscale is pursuing a planned US IPO. Fermi co founder and largest shareholder Toby Neugebauer is now calling for the company to be put up for sale after the 30 October shareholder vote. Hut 8 · Nscale · Fermi

Alphabet acquired nearly 3 million Qualcomm shares worth about $547.9 million as of 30 September, as Qualcomm targets $15 billion in annual data center revenue by 2029. TSMC is considering making 3D DRAM after a request from Nvidia, The Information reports, and no production timeline has been set. Tenspresso, a three month old AI chip startup founded by former Google TPU engineers, is discussing a round of at least $50 million at a $500 million valuation, according to Bloomberg. NVIDIA invested in South Korean AI interconnect startup Point2 and announced planned investments in Motif Technologies, RLWRLD and Upstage at a startup forum in Seoul. Alphabet and Qualcomm · TSMC 3D DRAM · Tenspresso · NVIDIA and Point2

The European Commission launched a €525 million plan for chip design startups, with €440 million in grants and €85 million for cloud infrastructure, services and open source tools. Finnish startup Vensum Power raised a €9 million Series A co led by Lifeline Ventures, Larsen & Toubro and Eviny Ventures to manufacture software controlled power converters. Stockholm based Green Voltis raised a €13.5 million Series A from Lochpine Capital for AI that operates and trades battery storage across European power markets. EU chip plan · Vensum Power · Green Voltis

Enterprise AI and security

Brava Security raised a $15 million seed round led by Pitango and F2 Venture Capital for AI agents that simulate attack logs to test whether security tools detect threats. San Francisco and Warsaw based e2e raised €7 million in seed funding led by Credo Ventures, KAYA, Point Nine, Baobab Ventures and Script Capital for an open source AI testing framework. Utah based Phaze, founded by the creators of Parsec, raised an $8.75 million seed round led by a16z for remote computers that people and AI agents can use. Brava Security · e2e · Phaze

Stockholm based Juritas raised €1.4m in pre seed funding led by Passion Capital for AI that tracks contract commitments and recovers value from supplier agreements. Mindmax, founded by former Memrise team members Ed Cooke and Daniel Zohar, raised £2.5 million from Concept Ventures and others for an AI tutor for professional exams. South Korean tabular data startup Nums AI raised USD 1.5 million in a second pre seed round, bringing its total funding to USD 4.6 million. Juritas · Mindmax · Nums AI

Coframe raised a $25 million Series A co led by Khosla Ventures and Hanabi Capital, bringing its total funding to $35 million, for an AI platform that creates, tests and improves websites, landing pages and ads. Spines secured $64 million, combining a $29 million Series A-1 led by Zeev Ventures with a $35 million non dilutive facility from Twelve, and says its revenue run rate reached $50 million. US law firm Blackletter raised a $6m seed round led by Lerer Hippeau to develop its BlackletterOS platform for complex legal work. Coframe · Spines · Blackletter

AI education lab Astral raised $5.5 million in a round led by Andre Charoo of MapleVC for its personalized AI tutor, which families use in more than 33 states. Sports AI startup Snapp, co founded by Caviar founder Shawn Tsao, emerged from stealth with $4.6 million from a16z Speedrun, Dorm Room Fund and others. Newcastle based Crowd Threat raised £1 million from the North East Accelerate Fund and NPIF II, PXN Equity Finance, for threat reports from paid local contributors that AI and human reviewers verify. Astral · Snapp · Crowd Threat

Fintech and insurance

Berlin based Pliant raised an $80 million Series C led by Seaya Nova and Speedinvest, reports more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue and is building payment infrastructure for AI agents. Firmly raised a $15 million Series A led by Squarepoint Capital, with J.P. Morgan Payments, Mastercard and Samsung NEXT, to let retailers sell through AI assistants. Toronto based Snaplii raised $15 million for capped, pre funded digital wallets that let AI agents pay without exposing users' primary credit card details. Pliant · Firmly · Snaplii

Insurance startup Kalepa raised a $75 million Series B at a $470 million valuation, led by Updata Partners, bringing its total funding to $91 million. UK proptech company Supa raised £21 million in seed funding led by 2150 and OpenOcean, and manages about 20,000 homes through seven firms. Seattle based Finpilot raised a $10 million Series A led by Lobby Capital for AI agents that process fund managers' reports for institutional investors. Kalepa · Supa · Finpilot

Barcelona based Kabilio raised €10 million led by Picus Capital and Visionaries for an AI accounting agent, and says it now serves more than 500 accounting firms. Claimlane raised a €5.6 million Series A backed by Verb Ventures, Skagerak Capital and Vendep Capital for AI agents that automate warranty and supplier claims. Manchester based Crediflow AI raised €1.8 million led by NPIF II, managed by PXN Ventures, to automate commercial loan processing. Kabilio · Claimlane · Crediflow AI

Lausanne based Light Frame raised a $5.1 million seed round led by Fortino Ventures for its cloud and AI based core platform for private banks and wealth managers. Ridero raised $2.7 million in pre seed funding from RiverPark Ventures, NY Ventures and others for an AI platform for vehicle leasing and balloon financing. Light Frame · Ridero

Health and science

Laza Medical raised up to $160 million in a structured Series B led by GE HealthCare for an AI robotic imaging system for cardiac catheterization labs that is not yet approved for sale. US startup Siggy raised $6 million in pre seed funding for an AI service that collects patient histories and tracks treatment progress for licensed clinicians. Paris based Granit raised $6 million led by Seedcamp for AI agents that handle billing, insurance claims and payment tracking for healthcare providers. Laza Medical · Siggy · Granit

The UK government's Sovereign AI fund is investing in Potential Sciences as part of an eight figure round, with access to the Isambard AI supercomputer for chemical and drug discovery. UK healthcare AI company Nayara raised a pre seed round led by SFC Capital for AI companions that support patients between hospital appointments. Potential Sciences · Nayara

Markets

AI stocks fell in overnight trading after a Democratic candidate who supports a moratorium on AI data centers was projected to win the Texas governor race. AMD shares fell 13% on 5 November despite record quarterly revenue, while Nvidia fell 7%, Intel 8% and Broadcom 6% on concerns about stricter AI rules. The Nasdaq 100 fell 6.3% as investors weighed tighter AI regulation, and mixed results from Qualcomm and Arm added to concerns over returns on AI investment. Texas vote · AMD shares · Nasdaq 100

The Nasdaq later rose about 1.7%, and Nvidia, AMD and Micron recovered part of their earlier declines. Taiwan's Taiex fell 3.2% to 41,574.72 on concerns about delayed US AI data center deployment, and foreign investors sold NT$102.46 billion in shares. Chinese officials reactivated liquidity tools and increased state backed fund activity to support AI shares, after Moore Threads and MetaX each fell about 50% in six months. Recovery · Taiex · China support

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle spent a combined $4.4 billion on share buybacks in the third quarter, the lowest total since 2017, according to Kobeissi Letter figures. Buybacks

Morgan Stanley, UBS and other brokerages said the recent AI stock selloff was excessive, and named Anthropic's potential IPO and Nvidia's upcoming earnings as more important catalysts. ECB President Christine Lagarde said eurozone exposure to AI related debt remains low for now, but warned that AI companies could struggle to borrow if earnings fall short of expectations. Morgan Stanley and UBS · Lagarde

Results

AMD reported record third quarter revenue of $13.4 billion, up 45%, as data center revenue nearly doubled to $8.5 billion, and expects about $17 billion in the fourth quarter. Arm reported record fiscal second quarter revenue of $1.443 billion, up 27%, and its data center royalties doubled. Qualcomm reported fiscal 2026 revenue of $43.1 billion and kept its $5 billion revenue target for its data center business. AMD · Arm · Qualcomm

Palantir's third quarter revenue rose 96% to $2.313 billion, and US commercial revenue passed US government revenue for the first time. Supermicro reported first quarter fiscal 2027 net sales of $19.9 billion and expects $72 billion to $82 billion for the full year. Arista Networks reported third quarter revenue of $3.66 billion, up 58.5%, and expects $3.9 billion to $4.0 billion in the fourth quarter. Palantir · Supermicro · Arista

IREN's AI Cloud revenue rose 182% to $200 million in the quarter ended 30 September, and its revenue backlog rose 22% to $20.3 billion. Applied Optoelectronics reported record third quarter revenue of $269.9 million and forecasts $385 million to $420 million for the fourth quarter. Camtek reported record third quarter revenue of $161.3 million and expects more than $800 million in revenue in 2027. IREN · Applied Optoelectronics · Camtek

Innodisk's third quarter revenue rose 579.9% to NT$25.9 billion, and AI related businesses made up more than 40% of group revenue. VIAVI's fiscal first quarter revenue rose 56.9% to $469.3 million, and it authorized a new $500 million share repurchase program. Modine's second quarter net sales rose 35% to $994.4 million, with Data Centers sales up 95%. Innodisk · VIAVI · Modine

SoundHound AI reported third quarter revenue of $62.4 million, up 48.5%, completed its LivePerson acquisition and expects sustained adjusted EBITDA profitability in the second half of 2027. Innodata's third quarter revenue rose 53% to $95.6 million, and it raised its 2026 revenue growth guidance to 42% or more. Fractal reported fiscal second quarter operating revenue of INR 9,565 million, up 20%, and net income up 139% to INR 792 million. SoundHound AI · Innodata · Fractal

Thomson Reuters reported third quarter revenue of $1.833 billion, up 10%, with organic growth also at 10%. EPAM reported third quarter revenue of $1.426 billion, up 2.3%, launched Frontier AI Services and plans a $500 million accelerated share repurchase. Genpact's third quarter revenue rose 7.3% to $1.385 billion, and its Advanced Technology Solutions revenue rose 30.3% to $405 million. Thomson Reuters · EPAM · Genpact

Teradata's third quarter revenue fell 4% to $399 million, while its public cloud annual recurring revenue rose 11% to $700 million. Sinch reported third quarter net sales of SEK 7.085 billion, up 5% organically, and adjusted EBITDA of SEK 967 million. AudioCodes reported third quarter revenue of $64.1 million, up 4.2%, and says its VoiceAI business grew 50% in the first three quarters of 2026. Teradata · Sinch · AudioCodes

ECARX reported third quarter revenue of $240.8 million, up 10%, while its net loss rose to $48.6 million, and it kept its full year revenue guidance of $1.0 billion to $1.1 billion. ECARX

Qualys reported third quarter revenue of $188.0 million, up 11%, raised its full year guidance and detailed new AI security features. Ceva's third quarter revenue rose 2% to $29.1 million, and AI licensing revenue reached a record level above 35% of licensing revenue. Data center provider Csquare reported third quarter revenue of $302.3 million, up 25.6%, as contracted power capacity rose to 428 MW. Qualys · Ceva · Csquare

Target Hospitality's third quarter revenue rose 30% to $129.1 million, and its more than $1.7 billion in multiyear contracts since January include projects linked to AI data centers. Solidion Technology reported $41,638 in third quarter revenue and is developing its PEAK Series UPS system for AI data centers. Target Hospitality · Solidion

Also

Hong Kong has preliminarily selected about 20 fund managers for sub funds under its HK$10 billion Innovation and Technology Industry Oriented Fund, which targets AI and other emerging technologies. Egyptian venture fund Nclude closed more than $112 million for fintech and AI startups across Africa and the Middle East. Ballistic Ventures filed with the SEC to raise $360 million for its third flagship fund and $130 million for Ballistic Ventures Fund B. Hong Kong fund · Nclude · Ballistic Ventures

STATION F selected 40 startups for its 2026 Future 40, and companies in the wider STATION F community raised €2 billion in 2026. Apple's 2026 Form 10-K says AI agents could act without authorisation, access restricted systems, expose data and create legal and financial risks. The Bank of England estimates that AI raised UK productivity by 0.5% over three years, adding 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points to annual growth since early 2024. STATION F · Apple 10-K · Bank of England

European AI companies raised $27.6 billion in the first nine months of 2026, 3.2 times a year earlier, Tracxn says; London companies took 54% of the funding, and Mistral AI's $3.5 billion round was the largest. Tracxn