Broadcom Lends Anthropic Up to $42B, Anduril Wins Up to USD 1.8B Army Contract, Stripe Acquires Parafin

Big financing and big contracts led the week. Anthropic's IPO filing revealed Broadcom will lend it up to $42B, Anduril won a U.S. Army contract worth up to $1.8B to scale its command system, and Stripe agreed to buy small business lender Parafin. Let's dive in…

THIS WEEK’S BREAKING NEWS

Broadcom to lend Anthropic up to $42B

Anthropic's IPO prospectus reveals Broadcom agreed to lend it up to $42B, via convertible notes that could be converted into Anthropic shares, to help finance a $125.2B five-year commitment to lease TPU computing capacity. Anthropic disclosed potential conflicts of interest from Broadcom's dual role as supplier and financing partner, and is expected to become Broadcom's largest compute customer in 2027. (1)

MARKET UPDATE

Global IPO proceeds hit record $287.5B through Q3

Global IPOs raised $93.3B in Q3 2026, up 79% from a year earlier, while the number of listings slipped slightly, per EY. The nine-month total reached a record $287.5B, driven by fewer, larger deals. SK Hynix's $26.5B Nasdaq listing was the biggest of the quarter, with technology companies accounting for roughly two-thirds of proceeds. (2)

PORTFOLIO NEWS

Anduril and Voyager formalize weapons and propulsion partnership

Anduril and Voyager Technologies formalized a strategic partnership across advanced weapons and propulsion, with Voyager already contracted to supply more than $60M in solid rocket motors, divert and attitude control systems, and other technologies. Voyager's Pueblo, Colorado complex targets 15,000-20,000 propulsion systems monthly at full scale, while Anduril's 1.18 million square foot Long Beach campus opens in 2027. (3)

Anduril buys Popoto Modem to network underwater fleets

Anduril acquired Popoto Modem, a Massachusetts-based underwater acoustics company, to build affordable multi-node acoustic mesh networks that let autonomous vehicles communicate with each other, surface vessels, and the wider fleet. The companies have worked together for over a year, with Popoto's modems already integrated across Anduril's maritime products, and integration is set to expand across its Copperhead underwater vehicle family. Terms were not disclosed. (4)

Anduril wins up to $1.8B Army command contract

Anduril won a U.S. Army contract worth up to $1.8B over five years to scale its Next-Generation Command and Control system, starting with a $162.8M base period deploying it to I Corps in the Pacific. The company says the system connected 2,500+ devices and cut artillery firing timelines by 90% in 4th Infantry Division trials. (5)

Anthropic's $100M academy targets the enterprise AI talent gap

Anthropic launched Claude Frontier Academy, backed by a $100M commitment to train 10,000 Frontier Deployed Engineers by the end of 2027, with first cohorts from Accenture, Bain, Capgemini, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deloitte, McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, and Novo Nordisk. Participants complete a multi-day in-person program and a 12-week residency leading a real Claude use case, with the first graduates expected in early 2027. (6)

Applied Intuition lands Honda and Nissan SDV partnerships

Applied Intuition announced separate partnerships with Honda and Nissan to supply foundational software for their software-defined vehicle development, with Honda adopting its Vehicle OS and Nissan using its in-vehicle OS and AI-driven development tools. The deals follow Honda and Nissan's August plan to jointly develop an SDV operating system, and extend Applied Intuition's Japan footprint after earlier work with Isuzu and Komatsu. (7)

Canva and Vibe launch design-to-streaming TV integration

Canva and Vibe launched the Canva app for Vibe, letting marketers design video ads in Canva and publish them directly into a Vibe streaming TV campaign without downloading or re-uploading files. Canva-made ads qualify for the same premium streaming inventory as agency-produced spots, and the app is available now to all Vibe advertisers at no additional cost. (8)

Cerebras rebounds 9% after Altman's "close partner" remark

Cerebras stock rose 9% after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called the chipmaker a "close partner," rebounding from a 20% drop after a SemiAnalysis report that OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast mode runs on Nvidia GPUs, which neither company has confirmed. Cerebras is valued at about $43B, down from $95B at its May IPO, while its $10B, 750-megawatt OpenAI supply deal runs through 2028. (9)

Decagon joins Databricks Marketplace as launch partner

Decagon and Databricks announced a partnership enabling zero-copy data sharing in both directions, letting Decagon's customer-facing AI agents read governed Databricks data while conversation insights like intent, sentiment, and root cause flow back. Decagon will also route model calls through Databricks' Unity Gateway and will be available as a launch partner on Databricks Marketplace for purchase through existing Databricks relationships. (10)

Figure decommissions F.02 humanoids as F.03 fleet grows

Figure decommissioned most of its F.02 humanoid fleet by training the robots in simulation to autonomously jump into molten steel at a 75-ton electric arc furnace in Imatra, Finland, protecting proprietary hardware without delaying the F.04 launch. The company says the retirement reflects its growing F.03 fleet, and the recovered metal will be machined into a limited series of commemorative artifacts. (11)

BNY and Payward reportedly eye broad digital-asset partnership

BNY is in talks with Kraken parent Payward over a broad partnership spanning crypto products, custody, wealth management, trading, payments, and infrastructure, delivered through Payward Services, according to two people familiar with the matter. Elements could resemble Payward's agreement with Nasdaq, whose venture arm invested $100M at a $21B valuation, and no deal is guaranteed as discussions continue. (12)

Altman extends OpenAI IPO wait over safety concerns

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at DevDay that the company won't pursue an IPO until it can make stronger safety claims about increasingly capable models, leaving the listing without a firm timetable. He argued a public listing would add shareholder pressure at a poor moment, while warning that delaying too long could be "bad for the world," following the Hugging Face breach. (13)

OpenAI launches Dots, an always-on agent powered by GPT-6 Astra

OpenAI launched Dots at DevDay, an always-on personal agentic assistant powered by GPT-6 Astra that pursues user-defined goals in the background with minimal oversight, available to Pro and Business Premium ChatGPT users in eligible markets. Users can message Dots through Slack and Teams, while OpenAI works with Microsoft to integrate Agent 365 security controls. (14)

Revolut weighs expansion beyond Manila tech hub

Revolut is exploring a wholly owned Philippine entity to offer digital banking and electronic money issuer services, building on its Manila Global Technology Hub launched in July 2025. The company is evaluating the structures needed for digital banking and EMI licenses under Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas rules, while the Department of Trade and Industry said it would help streamline the regulatory process. (15)

SpaceX stock jumps 8% to highest since June

SpaceX shares rose almost 8% to $171.09, their highest since mid-June, lifting Elon Musk back above $1T in net worth after Morgan Stanley called the stock "cheap" and set a $300 price target. The analysts cited AI product releases, Starship progress, and neocloud contracts as catalysts, with the stock up about 58% since its early August low. (16)

Stripe to buy Parafin, adding small business credit

Stripe agreed to acquire Parafin, an embedded financing startup valued at $750M in December 2024, with terms undisclosed and closing expected in the coming months. Parafin has extended $3B in credit to about 60,000 U.S. and Canadian small businesses, and reported a $100M annual revenue run rate last December. It is Stripe's second acquisition in two months, after OpenRouter, reportedly for about $7.5B. (17)

OTHER NEWS

Blue Origin's solar tower targets Moon Base power

Blue Origin unveiled its Power Tower, a 20-meter-tall, vertically deployed solar array designed to provide more than 10 kilowatts for Moon Base operations at the lunar south pole. The company showed a July 22 deployment test on Earth, and the design appears to evolve from Honeybee Robotics' LAMPS technology. NASA's Moon Base is currently targeted to be running by 2032. (18)

ByteDance reportedly tests standalone Doubao assistant app

China's government has signaled it may allow ByteDance and Alibaba to purchase Nvidia's new RTX Pro 5500 chips, with ByteDance reportedly weighing an order of roughly 1 million units. Nvidia targets shipping the chips in late December at about 500,000 per quarter for China, at $13,000 each, offering a potential lifeline after U.S. export controls cut Nvidia's China AI chip market share from 95% to zero. (19)

Crusoe files plans for $4.8B Jayton data centers

Crusoe filed with Texas regulators for two data center buildings in Jayton, each about 759,000 square feet, with total investment of $4.8B. Construction is slated to begin in January 2027, with buildings going live in May and July 2029. The sites are listed as spur buildings of Project Hyper in Childress, bringing that project's total investment to about $12B. (20)

Harmattan AI takes Gobi interceptor to Falcon Peak

Harmattan AI took its Gobi interceptor to Falcon Peak 26.2, a counter-drone exercise at Yuma Proving Ground, one of at least 20 vendors testing against southern-border drone incursions. Gobi is a hit-to-kill interceptor for Group 1-2 drones, with executives saying desert conditions are teaching them to make it more resilient. It follows a September letter of intent from Iraq to acquire Harmattan's counter-drone systems. (21)

Lambda raises $1B fixed-rate debt for GPU deployments

Lambda closed a $1B investment-grade delayed draw term loan, its first U.S. fixed-rate financing, to fund GPU infrastructure for three committed customer deployments with two investment-grade offtakers. The oversubscribed facility carries a 6.78% fixed rate and ratings of A (low) from Morningstar DBRS and Baa1 from Moody's, with J.P. Morgan as lead arranger. It follows Lambda's $926M term loan closed on August 27. (22)

Moonshot's valuation reportedly hits $50B ahead of IPO

Moonshot AI is reportedly eyeing an early 2027 Hong Kong IPO after its valuation hit $50B, up from $31.5B in a round this summer, and is considering raising up to $5B. Annual recurring revenue is about $1B and expected to reach $2B by December, though a reported data-security probe by Chinese regulators could affect timing, which remains subject to change. (23)

Polymarket launches tools to curb compulsive trading

Polymarket introduced voluntary lock-outs of 30 days, one year, or a lifetime, plus daily, weekly, or monthly deposit caps for U.S. users, with raised limits triggering a mandatory cooling-off period. It also partnered with Birches Health for treatment resources, after Polymarket and New York's attorney general sued each other last week in a dispute over whether prediction markets violate state gambling laws. (24)

Shield AI's Hivemind to power Innovaero's OWL munitions

Shield AI and Australian defense firm Innovaero signed an MoU to integrate Hivemind mission autonomy onto Innovaero's OWL family of one-way loitering munitions, giving the Australian Defence Force greater sovereign control over the capability. Hivemind is already integrated on the OWL-B ahead of flight testing, with multi-agent strike missions simulated through the ATAK interface.(25)

CHART OF THE WEEK

Late-stage rounds are eating the rest of the funding stack

Venture capital keeps moving later and later into a company's life.

Series D+ rounds have grown from a modest slice of total VC dollars invested in 2020 to the largest single share by 2026, while Seed and Angel combined have shrunk to a fraction of what they once represented. The shift has been steady, building year over year rather than jumping in one quarter.

That's a different signal than deal count, which has stayed relatively flat by stage over the same period. Fewer dollars are reaching early-stage companies proportionally, while later-stage, already-proven companies are absorbing an increasing share of available capital.

The Stableton Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 20 strategy is built around this stage of the market, giving institutional investors, banks, wealth managers, and family offices exposure to later-stage private blue-chip technology leaders that are now capturing the largest share of capital.

THE UNTOLD UNICORN STORY

Anduril: Defense technology reimagined

Co-Founder of Anduril, Palmer Luckey, at Anduril HQ in California. (26)

Founded in 2017, Anduril applies software-first engineering to defense challenges, accelerating the deployment of autonomous systems for force protection and surveillance. Its core platform, Lattice, connects sensors and autonomous vehicles so a single operator can manage air, land, and maritime systems at scale. By pairing low-cost, modular hardware with an adaptive software stack, Anduril replaces slow, bespoke defense programs with systems that can evolve through continuous iteration.

Its flagship products include Roadrunner and Roadrunner-M, reusable autonomous aircraft for counter-UAS and short-range air defense, and Fury, an uncrewed combat jet designed to operate alongside manned fighters. Together, they reflect a “Moneyball” military model focused on affordability, scale, and speed of deployment, a strategy driving new U.S. Department of Defense contracts as Anduril transitions from prototyping to full production. (27)

Fun Fact: Founder Palmer Luckey previously founded Oculus, a virtual reality headset, which popularized the VR industry before he turned to defense technology. Anduril now combines that product engineering mindset with defense procurement to scale autonomous systems.

Did you know? Anduril is one of the 20 companies in our Stableton Morningstar PitchBook Unicorn 20 strategy, a systematic, index approach that aims to outperform public benchmarks with low-cost fees, and without a performance fee. Click below for more information.

SOURCES

1 - CNBC, 2 - WealthBriefing, 3 - Anduril, 4 - Tectonic Defense, 5 - Investing.com, 6 - Anthropic, 7 - BigGo Finance, 8 - Business Wire, 9 - CNBC, 10 - Unite AI, 11 - Figure, 12 - CoinDesk, 13 - Financial Times, 14 - TechCrunch, 15 - DailyTribune, 16 - CNBC, 17 - Payments Dive, 18 - Space, 19 - TechNode, 20 - Data Center Dynamics, 21 - Reuters, 22 - Business Wire, 23 - Japan Times, 24 - Reuters, 25 - Shield AI, 26 - WIRED, 27 - Aspen Security