𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 (𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟮 𝗼𝗳 𝟮)

We’ve seen OpenAI’s amazing progress. We now have Anthropic: Anthropic seems to be bettering OpenAI by prioritising corporate needs – and corporates love it (OpenAI is now in “code red”). Every quarter, Anthropic is revising its ARR numbers upwards – which are now planned for $45bn this year (not $30bn like on the chart below – already outdated). For a 5-year-old company!
𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘆𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀.

Of course, there is the AI hype among investors. But there is also 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝘀 and, as a result, 𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗠&𝗔 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀’ 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗲.

A couple of 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 in the last month:
👉 SAP bought Prior Labs for c. $1bn. It is now preparing to invest another $1bn in the business. Prior Labs is an 18-month-old startup, which raised only €9m before (in pre-seed in February 2025 from Balderton Capital – and a bunch of entrepreneurs). From 0 to $1bn in 18 months, that’s unheard of.
👉 Anysphere (the developer of Cursor – led by Brit Michael Truell) has agreed to be acquired by SpaceX for $60bn, after raising $3.4bn from the likes of Accel, Coatue, etc. From 0 to $60bn in not even 4 years from inception. Waow.

There are quite a few profound implications:
👉 Startup companies can grow at a pace 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 (𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆). AI companies have become the UFOs of the venture world.
👉 Even if business models are shifting like moving sands, 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗿𝘆 for the sort of skills innovative AI startups build.
👉 Europe seems to be holding its own vs. the US, at least in some categories such as tabular foundational model (SAP/Prior Labs), physical AI (AMI Labs) or vertical AI (Lovable, Legora) – 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁.
👉 And hopefully SAP’s example of splashing $1bn on an 18-month-old startup will give license to other European corporates (ASML, Dassault Systemes, etc) to do the same – 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿.

In this frenetic environment, 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲, 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀. Between the US temptation for laissez faire and China’s insistence on “core socialist values”, Europe must become a beacon of effective AI regulation. So far, it hasn’t succeeded, but then again Microsoft never succeeded first time round.

Sources:
>https://venturebeat.com/technology/anthropic-says-it-hit-a-30-billion-revenue-run-rate-after-crazy-80x-growth
‍>https://www.the-ai-corner.com/p/anthropic-1-trillion-valuation-dario-amodei-2026-breakdown
‍>https://pathfounders.com/p/pathfounders-newsletter-we-found-out-how-much-sap-paid
‍>http://theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/21/spacex-cursor-ai-startup