Uber to Acquire Delivery Hero for $14.8 Billion

Andrew Dai, a former DeepMind researcher who contributed to foundational AI research that influenced ChatGPT's development, has raised funding at a $300 million pre-seed valuation before launching a product. Dai is positioning visual AI as a major frontier in artificial intelligence development. The funding round reflects investor confidence in his track record and vision, though the company remains pre-launch.

Ode, a joint venture founded by Anthropic with backing from Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs and others, aims to embed forward-deployed engineers within enterprise firms as an alternative to traditional consulting. The venture is led by Chris Taylor and Eddie Siegel, who previously founded Fractional AI. The model tests whether a small team of engineers can deliver the work typically handled by large consulting armies.

Stripe and private equity firm Advent have jointly offered $53 billion to acquire PayPal, a move that puts the struggling payments company in play for potential competing bids. The offer price sits above PayPal's recent lows but below historical trading levels, suggesting a bottom-fishing approach rather than a premium valuation. The deal could attract other bidders, including Elon Musk's SpaceX, though PayPal's board is unlikely to accept the current terms.

Anthropic is negotiating with banks to secure credit lines worth several billion dollars ahead of its planned 2026 IPO. The new facilities would supplement the $2.5 billion five-year revolving credit line the company obtained last year. This move follows a common pre-IPO pattern where companies expand credit capacity with banks that often serve as IPO underwriters.