Why we downgraded Anthropic
VC
🌧️The neocloud narrative is still being written. Despite CoreWeave’s stock falling and compute prices rising, neocloud startup General Compute just raised a $100 million round. Read what nine major players have to say about the state of hyperscalers and neoclouds in our recent analyst note.
Plus: Advent’s $30 billion haul, scoring Anthropic based on our methodology and more ⬇️
After reading Anthropic’s IPO filing, we lowered our AI Business Quality (AIBQ) score to 7.45 from 8.17.
Growth is not what holds the score back. The filing shows how much of Anthropic’s revenue is pay-as-you-go, how little say holders of the listed shares will have, and how much of the business rides on each new model release.
Revenue quality fell to 7.7 from 9.5, the largest move. Net revenue retention, which compares a group of customers’ spending in the latest quarter with the same quarter a year earlier, was about 900% as of Sept. 30. On a base this heavily metered, it measures momentum more than loyalty. Consumption fees made up about 80% of first-half revenue, and spending that can expand ninefold in a year can contract just as quickly.
Governance fell to 6.6 from 7.3. The company’s Long-Term Benefit Trust elects a majority of the board, and a single Class F share, held by an LLC of the seven co-founders, carries 50.1% of the vote on every shareholder matter, including the seats the trust does not fill. In practice, Class A holders will have no say over any director.
Moat durability fell to 8.7 from 9.3. Model versions released in the six months to Sept. 30 produced more than 80% of third-quarter revenue. Customers move quickly to Anthropic’s newest models, but the filing does not show whether they would stay through a release cycle in which a competitor wins.
We read the advantage as a capability lead to be re-won roughly twice a year. A falling share from recent releases, or evidence that large customers run competing models side by side, would change that view.
PitchBook offers advertising, sponsorship and custom research solutions backed by best-in-class financial data. Promote your brand through newsletters, custom research, research report sponsorships, and website advertising designed to engage the private capital ecosystem of VC investors, institutional investors, companies, and advisors. Whether you need a branding campaign, lead generation, or thought leadership, our advertising solutions connect you with decision makers who matter.
Advent International has raked in $30 billion in investor commitments amid a fundraising crunch that has hurt many of its similarly sized peers.
The Boston private equity manager collected nearly $27 billion for its latest flagship buyout fund, Advent International GPE XI, and an additional $3 billion for its debut fund focused on middle-market investments.
Advent’s strategy leans toward more complex deals, such as corporate carveouts and public-to-private transactions, primarily in North America and Europe.
Advent’s GPE XI is the second-largest buyout fund ever raised, excluding vehicles managed by state entities.
Advent beat its $26 billion target for GPE XI, but fundraising was a tougher slog than the firm is used to. It took 20 months for the firm to raise its latest flagship buyout pool, compared with six months for its 2021-vintage predecessor Fund X, which collected $25 billion.
While Advent’s fourth and fifth funds ranked in the top quartile by IRR, none are currently at that level, according to PitchBook data.
But all of the firm’s flagship funds are matching or beating their performance benchmarks when measured by distributions, which have become more important than IRR and multiples for many institutional investors struggling with liquidity constraints.
Advent said that 2026 has been among its most active years for realizations, with $13 billion returned to investors through the exit or partial exit of 27 businesses.
- PE firms are facing a massive debt wall due in 2028. Fund managers are racing to avoid losses from seven-year loans taken out for software companies in 2021. [The Wall Street Journal]
- Rising fuel costs left over 600 cruise ship passengers stranded in Cambodia. Villa Vie Residences suspended operations mid-trip due to a surge in fuel costs caused by the war in Iran. [Bloomberg]
- Sixteen years on, “crackgate” is the new “antennagate.” Reports of cracked displays on the new iPhone Duo have Apple reliving past hardware issues. [Financial Times]
Industrial manufacturing company Re:Build Manufacturing secured a $2.1 billion investment led by General Catalyst and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group.
Robotics startup Physical Intelligence is in talks to raise at least $1 billion in a round led by Avenir and Lux Capital that would value the company at $20 billion, Bloomberg reported.
Neocloud startup General Compute secured a $100 million Series A led by Blackbird Ventures and Abstract Ventures at an $800 million valuation.
Hex, the developer of a data analytics workspace, raised a $100 million Series D led by Peak XV at a $1.2 billion valuation.
Hyphenate, which provides an autonomous finance platform, raised a $45 million Series A led by Nexus Venture Partners.
Cybersecurity infrastructure startup Infisical secured a $40 million Series B led by Elad Gil at a $600 million valuation.
London-based physical AI startup Machenta, which develops a robot-training model, raised a $40 million seed round led by Creandum and Union Square Ventures.
22one, a UK-based startup building AI tools for law enforcement, raised funding from investors including Sequoia, General Catalyst and Lux Capital at a near $400 million valuation, the Financial Times reported.
AI chip marketplace operator Hyperbolic secured a $30 million Series A1 led by Walden Catalyst.
Benefits-focused enterprise AI platform developer Avante raised a $30 million Series A led by Frist Cressey Ventures.
Vera Health, the developer of an AI search engine for clinicians, secured a $28.5 million Series A led by Threshold Ventures.
Healthtech startup ClarityCare AI, which focuses on administrative tasks for authorizations, received a $16.3 million Series A led by Headline.
AI inference startup Simplismart raised a $14 million Series B led by Dallas Venture Capital.
Kivo Health, a virtual care startup focused on seniors with chronic disease, secured a $10 million Series A led by Allumia Ventures.
Blackstone-backed AI infrastructure developer AirTrunk secured an A$4.25 billion ($3 billion) green loan to develop a data center project in Sydney.
Ferring Pharmaceuticals agreed to acquire Insight Partners-backed Gameto, a biotech developing egg freezing and fertility technology, for up to $1.4 billion.
Advent International raised $30 billion across two funds: about $27 billion for its 11th flagship PE fund and $3 billion for a new mid-market-focused PE fund.
Dallas-based VC firm Disruptive raised $10 billion for a fund focused on investment in tech companies.
Blackstone opened a new office in Bengaluru, its second office in India.
2026 continues to see solid unicorn creation, as 107 startups have crossed the billion-dollar valuation threshold in Q3 2026, bringing the total up to 293 for the year.
Read more: Unicorn companies tracker
