Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
📈 Anthropic revenue jumps 14-fold to $11.5B
🍎 Apple taps Alibaba for China AI model
🚢 Iran and Oman near Hormuz shipping deal
💳 Stripe buys AI startup OpenRouter for $7B
🏛️ Trump to host crypto CEOs next week
Plus: 🌍 9 macro news, 🏢 10 corporate news, 💰 9 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.
| 📈 Anthropic revenue jumps 14-fold to $11.5B LINK |
- Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, told prospective investors that second-quarter revenue reached more than $11.5 billion, roughly 14 times the $787 million it booked a year earlier and up from $4.73 billion in the first quarter.
- The surge, driven by professionals adopting Claude for tasks such as coding, pushed Anthropic to positive adjusted operating income and lifted its annualized revenue run rate past $47 billion in May, ahead of rival OpenAI's $40 billion-plus.
- Anthropic has filed confidentially for a potential fall IPO with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, aiming to tap public funding to outspend competitors, in a market where listings have raised $256.4 billion this year, the most since 2021.
| 🍎 Apple taps Alibaba for China AI model LINK |
- Apple has developed a custom AI model for China with help from Alibaba, clearing the way to launch its Apple Intelligence features on Chinese iPhones as it competes to reach local customers.
- China's internet regulator registered Apple's generative AI service last month, a clearance that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude still lack, with the features expected via an iOS update "in the coming months."
- The move follows a costly year for Apple's AI push, including a $250 million settlement in May over claims it misled iPhone buyers about features that were unavailable, leaving it trailing Chinese rivals such as Huawei.
| 🚢 Iran and Oman near Hormuz shipping deal LINK |
- Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz nearly stopped over the weekend as a 60-day U.S.-Iran ceasefire neared its Monday expiry with no deal in sight, leaving the vital oil route effectively idle.
- Only five cargo ships crossed the passage on Saturday and none on Sunday, versus 31 the prior weekend, capping a slide that has cut shipping 90% since the war began February 28 on a route carrying about a fifth of the world's oil.
- Oil barely moved despite the disruption, with Brent crude down 0.15% to $88.45 a barrel and U.S. WTI off 0.74% to $81.79, as HSBC's Parash Jain said investors should treat "chaos" as the industry's baseline.
| 💳 Stripe buys AI startup OpenRouter for $7B LINK |
- Stripe has agreed to buy OpenRouter, a startup that lets companies switch between AI models to find cheaper options, for more than $7 billion, pushing the payments firm deeper into the artificial intelligence market.
- The price marks a steep markup from the $1.3 billion valuation OpenRouter reportedly commanded just months earlier, and sits below the roughly $10 billion the Wall Street Journal had earlier reported Stripe was discussing.
- Founded in 2023 and backed by Alphabet's CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures on more than $150 million raised, OpenRouter serves 8 million developers accessing over 400 AI models, riding growing corporate pressure to cut AI spending.
| 🏛️ Trump to host crypto CEOs next week LINK |
- President Trump is expected to attend a White House meeting on Wednesday with chief executives from crypto, prediction-market and AI firms, a session meant to open a policy dialogue with the administration.
- The CEOs, from Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Robinhood, Polymarket and Kalshi, sit on a new Innovation Advisory Committee at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and hold their first committee meeting Thursday, a day after the White House gathering.
- The meeting, set for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, is expected to include CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick possibly attending, signaling high-level engagement on crypto policy.
🌍 Macro News
- US drafts letter forcing 35 nations to choose AI coalitions. LINK
- Lutnick tells Apple not to use Chinese memory chips. LINK
- Global bond yields hit highest level since 2008 crisis. LINK
- China's retail sales and investment weakened sharply in July. LINK
- Goldman says September Fed rate hike is very unlikely. LINK
- US retail sales fell 0.6% in July, steepest drop. LINK
- Yen gains as traders push back Fed rate-hike bets. LINK
- Trade court upholds Trump's power to end tariff-free imports. LINK
- BP to develop Venezuela's Loran gasfield with Trump-linked firms. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Nubank's quarterly net income surpassed $1 billion for first time. LINK
- Crypto traders value Unitree at four times its IPO price. LINK
- OpenAI names ex-Wiz executive Dali Rajic as revenue chief. LINK
- JPMorgan cut banking ties with Polymarket over regulatory concerns. LINK
- US states seek $200 billion from Meta over child addiction. LINK
- Apple shares rose after opening Houston manufacturing center. LINK
- Gemini posted $107.7 million quarterly loss despite revenue growth. LINK
- Kraken's parent Payward posted $508 million in quarterly revenue. LINK
- RedotPay shelves $1 billion US IPO amid legal issues. LINK
- AMD targets over half of $220 billion server-chip market. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- Nvidia in talks to invest $3 billion in SB Energy. LINK
- SpaceX completes $60 billion acquisition of AI startup Cursor. LINK
- IonQ completes $1.8 billion acquisition of SkyWater Technology. LINK
- Ingenico secures €150 million investment led by PIMCO. LINK
- Datavault AI shares fell after $94.5 million CyberCatch acquisition. LINK
- Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners closes $3 billion Growth Markets Fund. LINK
- California regulator approves Charter's $34.5 billion purchase of Cox. LINK
- Bezos-led group to buy third of Liverpool for $7.1 billion. LINK
- Saputo to sell UK dairy operations for $1.86 billion. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- SemiAnalysis says PJM overcharged residents roughly $12 billion. LINK
- Goldman finds AI spending has yet to boost corporate profits. LINK
- Study warns AI could add 1.8 billion tons of CO2. LINK
- Grayscale sees Ether, Solana supply growth falling below gold's. LINK
- US corporate equity value tops 400% of GDP, JPMorgan finds. LINK