Anthropic Raises $30B in Funding, Valued at $380B

Anthropic said it raised $30B in Series G funding led by GIC and Coatue, valuing Anthropic at $380B post-money. Meanwhile, Waymo raised $16B investment in a round valuing the company at $126B post-money.This week's private company news:In what would be a "massive step-up" from Stripe's $107B valuation last fall, the financial services platform is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value it at more than $140B,' Lucinda Shen has learned from multiple sources.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told employees that ChatGPT is "back to exceeding 10% monthly growth," according to an internal Slack message viewed by CNBC, Ashley Capoot and Kate Rooney. The company is aiming to launch a new model within ChatGPT this week, Altman said. In his message, Altman also said OpenAI's coding product, Codex, grew about 50% from a week ago.Some of the biggest capital raises by private companies this week include:Anthropic– The AI company said it raised $30B in Series G funding led by GIC and Coatue, valuing Anthropic at $380B post-money. The round was co-led by D. E. Shaw Ventures, Dragoneer, Founders Fund, ICONIQ, and MGX, and also includes a portion of the previously announced investments from Microsoftand Nvidia. Publicly traded companies in the space include Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon.Waymo- The autonomous driving technology company that operates robotaxis and is owned by Alphabetraised $16B in an investment round, valuing the company at $126B post-money. The financing was led by Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global, and Sequoia Capital, and included significant investments from Andreessen Horowitz and Mubadala Capital as well as Bessemer Venture Partners, Silver Lake, Tiger Global, and T. Rowe Price. Publicly traded companies in the space include Tesla, Aurora Innovation, and Mobileye.Stoke Space– The rocket company developing fully and rapidly reusable medium-lift launch vehicles announced an extension of its Series D round, lifting total funding to $860M. Publicly traded companies in the space include Rocket Laband Astra.ElevenLabs– The AI audio company said it raised $500M Series D at an $11B valuation. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with Andrew Reed joining the board, with A16Z quadrupling down and ICONIQ tripling down. Publicly traded companies in the space include Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft.Skyryse– The aviation automation and simplified flight controls company successfully raised over $300M in a Series C investment. The round was led by Autopilot Ventures and returning investor Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from new and returning investors ArrowMark Partners, Atreides Management LP, BAM Elevate, Baron Capital Group, Durable Capital Partners, Positive Sum, Qatar Investment Authority, RCM Private Markets Fund managed by Rokos Capital Management LP, Woodline Partners, among others. Publicly traded companies in the space include Honeywell Aerospace, Garmin Aviation, and L3Harris Technologies.Unicorns to watch this week:Ripple– The blockchain-based payments platform has an estimated valuation of $15.64B and has seen renewed enthusiasm from investors as broader interest in crypto infrastructure and decentralized finance has also increased. Publicly traded companies in the space include PayPal, Block, Visa, and MasterCard.Shield AI– Operating in the Defense and autonomous drones space, Shield AI has an estimated $3B valuation. Publicly traded competitors include Palantirand AeroVironment.Gecko Robotics– The company works in built-world data/infrastructure monitoring and has reached a unicorn valuation at $1.25B after its most recent funding. Publicly traded companies in the space include Oceaneeringand Honeywell.Hinge Health– The unicorn focused on musculoskeletal care is one of the largest private digital health companies in the U.S. Publicly traded companies in the space include Teladoc, Hims & Hers, and Agilon Health.Via Transportation– The transit‑tech unicorn builds software for public transit agencies. Publicly traded companies in the space include Uber, Lyft, and Trimble.Netskope– The cybersecurity company specializes in Secure Access Service Edge, Cloud Security, Zero-trust network access, and CASB/SWG. Publicly traded companies in the space include Zscaler, Palo Alto Networks, and Cloudflare.IPOs to watch:OpenAI– The company is accelerating its plans for a public listing as rivalry with Anthropic intensifies, now planning on listing in Q4 of this year, Berber Jin, Corrie Driebusch, and Kate Clark of The Wall Street Journal. OpenAI is holding discussions with Wall Street banks about a potential initial public offering and has hired several executives to oversee its finance team, sources told the Journal.SpaceX- Elon Musk is targeting mid-June for the timing of SpaceX's initial public offering, IPO, Ivan Levingston, Stephen Morris, and Mercedes Ruehl of The Financial Times, citing five people familiar with the matter. The company is looking to raise $50B at a valuation of $1.5T, the sources added.Copper– The crypto custody company is in early talks about a public listing, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, CoinDesk's Will Canny writes. Goldman Sachs, Citiand Deutsche Bankare among the investment banks potentially involved, according to one source. The decision on whether to pursue a listing will hinge on the company's near-term revenue performance, a second person said.Speed Group– The company filed a prospectus for 2.5M share initial public offering. It expects the IPO price to be in the range of $4.00 to $5.00 per. The company's operating subsidiary, Speed Logistics, is an e-commerce logistics provider providing end-to-end logistics solution in Hong Kong, Europe and North America. The services include warehousing, customs clearance, air transportation, and final delivery from the European airports. For the years ended June 30, 2024 and 2025, Speed's revenues were $17.9M and $22.64M, respectively.PayPay– The company filed for an initial public offering of American depositary shares, or ADSs, and has applied to list the ADSs on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "PAYP." The prospectus filed with the SEC states: "As Japan's leading financial technology company, we are dedicated to our goal of becoming a digital finance platform for all... We launched this service in October 2018 and it rapidly expanded to become a nation-wide leading cashless payments ecosystem that had approximately 72 million PayPay registered users as of December 31, 2025, representing a penetration of 75% among 96 million smartphone users in Japan. With the acquisition of PayPay Card Corporation in October 2022, our platform evolved to a next-generation payments ecosystem, seamlessly integrating our code-based payment and credit card payment services through our PayPay app.""Private Markets" is The Fly's recurring series of stories on the latest moves in the private sector, largest unicorn companies and initial public offerings to watch. Fly subscribers, add $PRIVATE to your portfolio for alerts on breaking news in the startup and venture capital space.