TechCrunch : Led by Anduril, defense tech funding sets a new record this year

Led by Anduril, defense tech funding sets a new record this year

Defense tech funding just reached a new high. Defense tech startups have raised almost $3 billion so far in 2024, according to Crunchbase. This surpassed the previous record from 2022 of $2.6 billion.

It’s an impressive feat, especially considering the number of deals has shrunk: in 2022, there were 113 defense tech rounds, outpacing 2024’s 85 rounds.

The record is buoyed by a few monster rounds this year, like weapons manufacturer Anduril, which raised a $1.5 billion Series F in August and Saronic Technologies, an autonomous maritime vehicle company founded by Anduril alumni, which raised a $175 million Series B this year. Additionally, defense infrastructure startup Chaos Industries raised a $145 million Series B this month.

Europe’s defense tech scene has grown by leaps and bounds this year as well. German AI weapons startup Helsing raised a whopping about $487 million this year. And PitchBook reports a spike in new Europe-based defense tech venture firms, like Ukrainian D3 Venture Capital, Lithuanian Scalewolf, and British Twin Track Ventures.

“We are living in an increasingly dangerous world,” said Mikolaj Firlej, general partner of Europe-based Expeditions Fund, to PitchBook. “Many are now feeling a sense of urgency and mission to use money and networks to invest in early-stage companies that could move the needle and help protect us.”

The defense tech boom shows no sign of abating: defense investors and founders are reportedly expecting the new White House administration to provide even more opportunities for startups offering new technologies in everything from space and aeronautics to weapons and surveillance tech.

“The close relationships between [vice president-elect] Vance, Elon and the defense VC and startup ecosystem will create a huge opening for real defense acquisition reform and widening of the number of players,” Nathan Mintz, cofounder of electronic warfare startup CX2, told Forbes.

FT : MicroStrategy takes fundraising to $7bn for push into bitcoin

MicroStrategy takes fundraising to $7bn for push into bitcoin
Software maker turned crypto investor increases size of convertible bond offering to $2.6bn

Software provider turned bitcoin investor MicroStrategy has taken fundraising for its aggressive push into buying the cryptocurrency to more than $7bn since the US election, as the price hit a new record high.

The firm on Wednesday raised the size of a convertible bond offering from $1.75bn to $2.6bn, as it looks to exploit the euphoria in digital assets since Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election earlier this month.

That comes on top of the $4.6bn it raised in a stock sale last week, which has also gone into buying more bitcoin.

MicroStrategy’s shares jumped 15 per cent on Wednesday to a record high, and are up nearly 900 per cent in the past year.

MicroStrategy’s post-election buying spree underscores its commitment to buying as much bitcoin as it can since executive chair and founder Michael Saylor put the company on that path in August 2020. Last month the Californian group announced plans to raise $42bn from shares and debt sales in the coming years to plough into the cryptocurrency.

“I think it reflects not only the market’s embrace of the company’s approach, but also the mood of the moment: that MicroStrategy has really the right strategy at the right time given the anticipated support of bitcoin and crypto by the Trump administration, particularly as it pertains to a more supportive regulatory environment,” said Mark Palmer, a senior equity analyst with the Benchmark Company.

MicroStrategy’s buying has helped drive the price of bitcoin to a record this month. On Wednesday it hit nearly $95,000, having risen 33 per cent since the election of Trump and pro-crypto legislators in Congress.

The firm has become the world’s largest corporate owner of the token and has bought more than 50,000 bitcoin since the election, taking its holdings to around 331,000 bitcoin, worth about $31bn.

Saylor is “probably the greatest hedge fund manager ever”, said Jad Comair, founder of crypto investment firm Melanion Capital.

The industry has gleefully welcomed Trump’s victory this month, forecasting a coming “golden age” as the new president ushers in an era of looser regulation of crypto in the US.

Under President Joe Biden, crypto-related companies have faced a barrage of civil and criminal lawsuits from US regulators. The Securities and Exchange Commission has secured billions in fines over the past decade, topped by the $4.5bn in penalties that Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon were ordered to pay in June.

MicroStrategy is also tapping a bullish US equity market, which has hit fresh highs this year.


“Bitcoin is Manifest Destiny for the United States,” Saylor said in an X post last week, referring to the 19th-century slogan that encouraged American settlers to push into the country’s western lands.

MicroStrategy managed to significantly increase the size of its bond offering, which is convertible to company stock at a 55 per cent premium to Tuesday afternoon’s average price, even though the five-year debt offers a coupon of zero per cent. That accomplishment demonstrates “the enormous potential market for MicroStrategy securities”, Palmer said.

Mara Holdings, a cryptocurrency miner, has also turned to the equity market with a $850mn five-year convertible bond offering of its own this week. That offering too was several times subscribed and increased from $700mn.

Funds raised by crypto companies, including MicroStrategy, on the US equity market this year total $9.8bn, surpassing the previous record of nearly $3.4bn in 2021, according to data from Dealogic.

The Information : Snowflake Talks With Anthropic About AI Partnership

Snowflake Talks With Anthropic About AI Partnership

The Takeaway
• Snowflake talked with Anthropic about LLM deal
• Offering Anthropic could help Snowflake raise profile with AI developers
• Snowflake has been under pressure over AI strategy

Database provider Snowflake is talking with OpenAI rival Anthropic about letting Snowflake’s customers use Anthropic’s large language models to build artificial intelligence–powered applications, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

The Anthropic agreement, if consummated, could help CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy address investors’ concerns about Snowflake’s ability to compete with rivals like Databricks, Microsoft, and Amazon for generative AI business. Snowflake’s stock has fallen 35% so far this year, to just above its 2020 initial public offering price, as questions have intensified about its AI strategy.

Snowflake already gives customers access to Google’s LLM as well as open-source LLMs developed by Meta Platforms and Mistral AI. But Anthropic’s LLMs are widely considered closest to those of market leader OpenAI in terms of performance and capabilities. Adding Anthropic’s LLMs to the mix could raise Snowflake’s profile with data scientists and AI researchers, which have typically used products from rival Databricks.

Anthropic’s LLMs are particularly strong at helping software developers write code, fix bugs and translate code into different programming languages. By some metrics OpenAI uses to evaluate models’ coding abilities, Anthropic’s models recently had an edge.

Many large Snowflake customers, such as banks, like to use LLMs to build applications on servers that are situated close to where they store their data, said the person with direct knowledge of the agreement. Adding Anthropic’s LLMs could help Snowflake convince customers to keep their data in its database as opposed to moving it to a cloud provider such as Amazon Web Services.

A Snowflake spokesperson declined to comment. An Anthropic spokesperson didn’t have a comment. Snowflake is due to report its latest quarterly earnings later today.

The Anthropic agreement could help Snowflake accelerate its plans to enable customers to build agents that handle tasks like updating business records in its database, which it outlined in an announcement earlier this month.

Snowflake has made several other moves this year to boost its AI offerings, such as launching tools for building AI chatbots that companies can train on their internal data. Snowflake in May acquired TruEra, a startup that helps developers evaluate and monitor AI models and apps powered by LLMs.

Snowflake earlier this year also reportedly tried to acquire Reka AI, a startup developer of LLMs, for more than $1 billion, but the companies couldn’t come to terms.

>>> Comcast confirms intention to create leading independent media business thro

Comcast confirms intention to create leading independent media business through spin-off of select cable television networks (42.32)
  • Co announced its intent to create a new publicly traded company comprised of a strong portfolio of NBCUniversal's cable television networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel along with complementary digital assets including Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow and Sports Engine, through a tax-free spin-off.
  • The well-capitalized independent company will have significant scale as a pure-play set of assets anchored by leading news, sports and entertainment content.
  • The planned spin-off will also strategically position NBCUniversal with its leading broadcast and streaming media properties, including NBC entertainment, sports, news and Bravo -- which all power Peacock -- along with Telemundo, the theme parks business and film and television studios.
  • Comcast is targeting to complete the spin-off in approximately one year, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including obtaining final approval from the Comcast Board of Directors, satisfactory completion of SpinCo financing, receipt of tax opinions and receipt of any regulatory approvals. There can be no assurance that a separation transaction will occur, or, if one does occur, of its terms or timing.
  • SpinCo will be led by an experienced and well-respected management team. Mark Lazarus, current Chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, will serve as the company's Chief Executive Officer, and Anand Kini, current Chief Financial Officer of NBCUniversal and EVP of Corporate Strategy at Comcast, as its Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Together they will lead the development of an independent strategy, while also establishing SpinCo as a potential partner and acquirer of other complementary media businesses.
  • Over the last twelve months ended September 30, 2024, SpinCo generated approximately $7 billion in revenue. SpinCo will have the same dual-class share structure as Comcast

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
  • TGT -17.5%, POWL -13.5%, ZTO -4.1%, SR -3%, NIO -2.6%, XP -2.3% (also authorizes new R$1 bln share repurchase program), SQM -1.6%, DAL -0.8% (guidance)
Select TGT peers and related names showing early weakness:
  • DG -3.7%, PSMT -3.3%, DLTR -3%, RTH -1.9%, KSS -1.8%, BJ -1.7%, OLLI -1.2%, M -1.1%, WMT -0.9%, COST -0.7%
Other news:
  • NAMS -15.5% (topline data from the Company's Phase 3 TANDEM clinical trial)
  • SVM -14.1% ($130 mln convertible notes offering)
  • QDEL -6.6% (prices secondary offering of 8,260,183 shares of the Company's common stock by Carlyle Group)
  • SAGE -4.7% (announced topline results from the Phase 2 DIMENSION Study of dalzanemdor (SAGE-718); does not plan further development of dalzanemdor)
  • EXK -4.3% (announces $73 million bought deal financing)
  • ATOS -3.9% (entered into $100 mln Open Market Sale Agreement)
  • BLX -2.6% (CFO to step down)
  • CDE -2.4% (CMC Metals options the Silverknife Property to Coeur Mining)
  • VERI -2.4% (entered into $35 mln sales agreement)
  • DTM -1.7% (DTM to acquire 3 nat gas pipelines from OKE for $1.2 bln; also files mixed shelf securities offering)
  • CAN -1.3% (Announces the Execution of a Securities Purchase Agreement; Canaan Secures Follow-On Order from HIVE (HIVE) for 5,000 Avalon A15-194T Miners; also Expands its Self-mining Footprint in Texas and Pennsylvania)
  • OMCL -1% (prices $150.0 mln of 1.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2029)
  • SID -1% (Comp Siderurgica and InterCement reached a new agreement to extend until December 16 the exclusivity rights with respect to a potential acquisition of shares representing 100% of InterCement's capital stock)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
  • DLB +11.4%, WIX +11%, GLBE +9.6%, KEYS +9.1%, ZIM +8.8%, VREX +5.8%, QFIN +4.8% (also authorizes new $450 mln share repurchase program), LZB +4.5% (also increases dividend), AZEK +4.4%, SNEX +3.4%, TJX +0.8%
Other news:
  • AZTA +8.7% (CEO bought 13967 shares; also moves to S&P 600 from S&P 400)
  • SGMO +8.2% (announces FDA clearance of IND application for ST-503)
  • FLEX +6.5% (to join S&P MidCap 400)
  • ZI +4.9% (CEO bought 492500 shares)
  • CON +4.6% (to join S&P SmallCap 600)
  • ARGX +4% (Advances Clinical Development of Efgartigimod SC in Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies)
  • HROW +3.2% (Melt Pharmaceuticals Reports Positive Phase 3 Topline Efficacy Results for MELT-300, Its Lead Product Candidate for Opioid-Free, Sublingual Procedural Sedation in Patients Undergoing Cataract Surgery)
  • LNTH +2% (authorizes $250 mln share repurchase program)
  • RXRX +1.9% (Recursion Pharmaceuticals and and Exscientia (EXAI) have officially combined to advance the industrialization of drug discovery)
  • LSAK +1.8% (to acquire Recharger for $28 mln)
  • VKTX +1.5% (presents results from Phase 2b VOYAGE study)
  • HIVE +1.2% (Canaan Secures Follow-On Order from HIVE (HIVE) for 5,000 Avalon A15-194T Miners)
  • PATK +1% (declares 3-for-2 stock split)