Edition 52

Welcome back to The Dealflow by Founders Capital - your inside track on the private markets. Each week, we cut through the noise to bring you the latest industry trends - along with our take.

Key News & Trends

CoreWeave and Meta Expand $21B AI Infrastructure Deal

CoreWeave and Meta have expanded their long-term partnership to a $21B agreement through 2032, with Meta securing dedicated AI cloud capacity to scale inference workloads across its platforms. The deal includes early deployment of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems and reflects growing demand for high-performance infrastructure as AI models move from training to large-scale production. Read more here

Anthropic Revenue Surges Past $30B Run Rate

Anthropic’s revenue run rate has surpassed $30B, up from $9B at the end of 2025, driven by rapid enterprise adoption of its Claude models. The company now has over 1,000 customers spending more than $1M annually, with demand continuing to accelerate despite ongoing regulatory tensions. Read more here

Perplexity’s Agent Pivot Drives Rapid Revenue Growth

Perplexity’s revenue has surged 50% in a single month, reaching over $450M in annual recurring revenue. The growth follows the launch of agent-based tools and a move to usage-based pricing, with the platform now serving over 100M users and a growing base of enterprise clients. Read more here

Founders’ Take

Scaling Dynamics in the AI Model Layer

Anthropic crossing a ~$30B annualised revenue run rate, up from ~$9B at the end of last year, is one of the most striking growth curves we’ve seen at this scale. Tripling run rate in a single quarter at this level is phenomenal.

For the first time, Anthropic appears to have overtaken OpenAI on run rate, despite OpenAI’s significantly larger user base. It’s a clear signal that AI monetisation is driven by intensity of usage, with value concentrated in enterprise customers running token-heavy production workflows.

This reinforces the shift from seat-based software to compute-based consumption, as has become increasingly evident across the SaaS market over the past couple of quarters.

It’s also a reminder of how quickly leadership can shift. Just over a year ago, OpenAI was widely considered the category leader; today Anthropic is setting the pace. In a market evolving this quickly, multiple platforms are likely to scale meaningfully, with outcomes shaped by who can best capture and retain high-value workloads.

Top Venture Deals

Firmus Raises $505M at $5.5B Valuation (Coatue, Nvidia)

• AI data centre company Firmus has raised $505M at a $5.5B valuation ahead of a planned ASX IPO. Backed by Nvidia, the company is building high-density infrastructure optimised for large-scale AI workloads, including a flagship campus designed to host tens of thousands of GPUs. Read more here

Hermeus Raises $350M at $1B Valuation (Khosla Ventures, Canaan Partners, Founders Fund, In-Q-Tel, RTX Ventures)

• Defence startup Hermeus has raised $350M to develop unmanned hypersonic aircraft, combining venture and strategic capital with $150M in debt financing. The company is leveraging existing engine technology from RTX to accelerate development and secure near-term defence contracts. Read more here

Starfish Space Raises $110M Series B (Point72 Ventures, Activate Capital, Shield Capital, NFX, Munich Re Ventures, Toyota Ventures)

• Starfish Space has raised $110M to scale its satellite servicing platform, including its Otter vehicle designed for docking, repositioning and de-orbiting satellites. The company already holds multiple defence and commercial contracts, including with the U.S. Space Force and NASA, and is preparing for its first operational missions. Read more here

Upcoming Public Offerings

Arxis

• Aerospace components manufacturer Arxis is seeking up to $1.06B in its U.S. IPO, targeting a valuation of $11.2B. Backed by private equity firm Arcline, the company has scaled through acquisitions and benefits from rising global defence spending. Read more here

Hailo

• AI chip startup Hailo is pursuing a SPAC merger to raise capital, with its valuation falling to below $500M from a previous peak of $1.2B. The company faces mounting cash pressure, including high-interest bridge financing, as it looks to secure liquidity. Read more here

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