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The infrastructure race is on
Jackson Berger
November 13, 2025
TL;DR. The AI infrastructure boom is accelerating fast. Anthropic just dropped a massive $50B commitment for new U.S. data centers, while OpenAI’s Sam Altman is defending his $1.4T vision amid growing scrutiny. Meanwhile, Cursor raised $2.3B to scale its AI coding tools and challenge the biggest players. The money, ambition, and stakes keep rising.
Anthropic announces $50B data center plan
Anthropic has partnered with U.K.-based Fluidstack to build $50B worth of AI-optimized data centers across Texas and New York, coming online by 2026. It’s the company’s first major infrastructure push as it looks to meet soaring Claude compute demands and chase $70B in revenue by 2028.
Sam Altman responds to scrutiny over OpenAI’s massive spend
After facing backlash last week for getting visibly defensive when asked about OpenAI’s aggressive spending compared to its current revenue, Sam Altman took to X to clarify the company’s position. He denied seeking government guarantees for data center builds, outlined OpenAI’s $1.4T infrastructure vision, and projected $20B in revenue by year-end.
Coding assistant Cursor raises $2.3B five months after its previous round
Cursor, the developer-focused AI tool, just raised $2.3B at over a $29B valuation. The round included Nvidia, Google, and Accel, fueling further development of its in-house Composer model. While still dependent on external AI models, Cursor aims to compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the dev tooling space.
Banks are coming for the private markets
Big banks are making billion-dollar moves into private markets, and it’s not just acquihires. Augment CEO, Noel Moldvai, explains how this shift is about infrastructure, issuer relationships, and locking in wealth clients for the next 20 years.
Quick takes
Pulse check. From headline-making raises to early bets with breakout potential, this week’s funding pulse check highlights where capital is flowing in the private markets. Whether you're tracking the next top pre-IPO name, mapping category momentum, or reading up on the hottest tech, these deals offer a snapshot of what’s heating up now.
More notable fundings this week
Ripple Labs: $500M funding round at $40B valuation - The blockchain payments firm is building out its global financial infrastructure.
Synchron: $200M Series D - Developing brain-computer interfaces to restore function for people with paralysis.
Skims: $225M at $5B valuation - Kim Kardashian’s shape wear brand is scaling into new lifestyle and apparel categories.
d-Matrix: $275M Series C - A generative AI chip startup optimizing inference compute for data centers.
Forterra: $238M at $1B valuation - Building battlefield-ready autonomous systems for defense customers.
Harbinger: $160M Series C - An electric truck startup ramping up production with FedEx as a strategic partner.
WisdomAI: $50M Series A - AI-native data infrastructure for large model operations, backed by Nvidia and Kleiner Perkins.
Cheerio! Until next week.
-Jack