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Welcome to today’s edition of AI Business Weekly. Global AI momentum remains at record highs, with multibillion dollar rounds, strategic acquisitions, government led initiatives, and even shutdowns reshaping the landscape. From Silicon Valley to Milan to Seoul, the AI ecosystem continues to evolve at unprecedented speed.

Let’s dive in.

Anthropic Raises 13B, Valuation Hits 183B

San Francisco based Anthropic has secured a massive 13 billion Series F, bringing its valuation to 183 billion. The round was co led by Iconiq, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Lightspeed, with participation from sovereign wealth funds including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan.

The company’s run rate revenue has surged from 1B to 5B, with over 300,000 business customers and a nearly sevenfold increase in large enterprise accounts. Claude Code, Anthropic’s developer focused product, has become a key growth driver, generating over 500M in annualized revenue. CEO Dario Amodei noted caution over certain sovereign wealth investors due to ethical concerns.
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Waveful Secures €1.8M Seed for US Expansion

Milan based Waveful, a social platform promoting authentic connections, raised 1.8 million euros in Seed funding. The round included a16z Speedrun, Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), and Vento Ventures. The capital will fuel its US expansion and accelerate AI driven product innovation.
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AI Startup theGist Shuts Down

Israeli startup theGist, founded in 2022 by Itay Dressler, Itzik Ben Bassat, and Nir Zohar, has ceased operations. Despite raising 7 million dollars pre Seed from StageOne Ventures and Aleph, the company will return funds to investors. TheGist had aimed to transform workplace productivity with AI driven tools but struggled to achieve market traction.
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South Korea Commits 12.3B to AI Startups

South Korea’s 2026 budget includes 12.3 billion dollars for AI and deep tech startups, alongside a record 1.61B in R&D spending focused on manufacturing AI adoption. The plan also introduces a re challenge fund to support failed founders, aiming to strengthen the nation’s domestic AI ecosystem and enhance global competitiveness.
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OpenAI Acquires Statsig for 1.1B

OpenAI has confirmed its 1.1 billion all stock acquisition of Statsig, a product testing and feature management platform. Statsig’s tools adopted by companies like Eventbrite, SoundCloud, and OpenAI enable rapid A/B testing and experimentation. The acquisition, pending regulatory approval, is among OpenAI’s largest to date and comes alongside a reshuffling of its executive leadership.
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📢 AI Funding and Expansion Momentum

This week underscores AI’s accelerating transformation with record breaking financings like Anthropic’s 13B round, strategic acquisitions from OpenAI, government led investments in South Korea, and emerging platforms in Europe. While some startups like theGist exit the field, capital and talent continue to flood into AI at historic levels.

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