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Artificial-intelligence company Anthropic said on Tuesday it is now valued at $183 billion post-money, over twice as much as its earlier valuation, as investor enthusiasm towards AI startups stays strong despite some doubts over tech industry spending. The new valuation is a jump from the $61.5 billion post-money valuation in March this year, where it raised $3.5 billion. Anthropic said it raised $13 billion in a Series F round led by investment firm ICONIQ. The “investment will expand our capacity to meet growing enterprise demand, deepen our safety research, and support international expansion as we continue building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems,” Anthropic said in a blog post. The startup, backed by Google-parent Alphabet and Amazon.com, has distinguished its work, in part, by building AI models that excel at coding. Anthropic’s run-rate revenue, which had grown to approximately $1 billion at the beginning of 2025, was more than $5 billion by August. The startup behind the Claude large language models unveiled Opus 4.1 in August, an upgrade to Opus 4 on agentic tasks, real-world coding, and reasoning. The latest funding round was co-led by Fidelity Management & Research and Lightspeed Venture Partners, Anthropic said. Other major investors include the Qatar Investment Authority, Blackstone and Coatue. U.S. startup funding surged 75.6% in the first half of 2025, driven largely by major AI investments and bold bets from big tech companies, putting it on track for its second-best year ever, a report from PitchBook showed in July. Last month, Anthropic said it will offer Claude to the U.S. government for $1. Claude, along with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, was added to a list of approved AI vendors, the U.S. government’s central purchasing arm said in August. Amazon is considering another multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic to strengthen their strategic partnership, the Financial Times had reported in July. Juby Babu, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Here’s some good news coming off a long holiday weekend as we head into the fall: If you missed the northern lights (or aurora borealis) last night, you may get another chance to catch a glimpse tonight, Tuesday, September 2, and early Wednesday morning, September 3, in some 10 U.S. states. That’s on account of a powerful “cannibal” solar storm that hit Earth’s magnetic field on Monday from 1 million miles away, lighting up skies across North America and Europe overnight. The aurora borealis is the result of a geomagnetic storm that occurs when a coronal mass ejection (CME), an eruption of solar material, reaches Earth and causes swaths of purple, blue, and green in the night sky. This years increased solar activity (and thus, more frequent northern lights activity) is likely the result of an 11-year sun cycle peaking now through next month. Where will the northern lights be visible? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts the best viewing tonight in Alaska and northern Canada, with a high chance of some visibility in northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. The agency is predicting G1 geomagnetic storms (on a scale of G1 to G5), which are considered minor. According to this map from NOAAs Space Weather Prediction Center, a total of 10 states are in the line of view for the auroras. They are Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Maine. When is the best time to see the aurora borealis? For the best viewing, the NOAA recommends facing north, in a spot away from light pollution, between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time. You can track the aurora on NOAAs page, where the agency is providing updates.
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E-Commerce
McDonald’s is making some major efforts to bring customers back to the home of the yellow arches. The fast food chain just announced it will bring back its iconic Extra Value Meals starting on Sept. 8. The addition is extra indeed, as Extra Value Meals haven’t been a part of the menu for six years. According to a press release, the Extra Value Meals will combine select entrées like a Big Mac, an Egg McMuffin, or a McCrispy sandwich with medium fries or hash browns and a drink, for a discounted rate. The chain says prices will vary by location but will be around 15% less than ordering the items individually.McDonalds USA is laser-focused on delivering value and affordability for our customers, and Im incredibly proud of how our franchisees and teams continue to step up to make it a reality, said Joe Erlinger, President of McDonald’s USA, in the announcement. Erlinger continued, From the $5 Meal Deal to McValue and now Extra Value Meals, were sending a clear message: were here for our customers. McDonalds will always be a place where you can get the food you love at a price that fits your life. The addition is not the first major effort McDonald’s has made recently to increase foot traffic. In January, the chain introduced the McValue menu, which includes the $5 meal deal, as well as a “buy one, add one for $1” deal. They also brought back the Snack Wrap this summer, and even a nostalgic 1970s meal: the limited-time McDonaldland Meal, which comes with a very vintage collectible. The extra efforts make a lot of sense. Fast Food chains have been struggling amid lower numbers in recent years. In May, the chain posted its 2025 first quarter sales, which had dropped by 3.6% from the previous year. On an earnings call at the time, CEO Chris Kempczinski blamed consumer “anxiety,” saying, “During the first quarter, geopolitical tensions added to the economic uncertainty and dampened consumer sentiment more than we expected.”However, by the second quarter, which ended on June 30, sales had ticked back up by 3.8%a sign that the added menu items, lower cost meal deals, and other promotions, may already be working in the chain’s favor.
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E-Commerce
Legal sports betting is still not offered in California or Texas, the countrys two most populous statesand in Florida, the third most-populous, its largely controlled by the Seminole Tribe. But a new venture from Crypto.com and fantasy-sports provider Underdog Sports could open new doors for fans. The companies announced Tuesday they are teaming up to launch a sports prediction market in 16 states. Fans will be able to buy and sell outcomes of sporting events, similar to how prediction markets are used to bet on elections, Bitcoin prices, or pop culture events. Odds shift with market movements rather than a bookmakers call. “Prediction markets are one of the most exciting developments weve seen in a long time,” said Jeremy Levine, Underdog’s founder and CEO, in a statement. “While still new and evolving, one thing is clearthe future of prediction markets is going to be about sports.” The field is already getting crowded. Robinhood, Polymarket, and Kalshi currently offer prediction markets, and FanDuel announced this month it would partner with CME Group to create sports event contracts. Sports betting itself is a massive business. Last year, Americans wagered $150 billion in legal sportsbooks, a 22.2% jump from 2023, according to the American Gaming Association. The growth of online gambling has also brought more casual players into the fold. Prediction markets, however, exist in a legal grey zone, with courts and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) still determining their status. Even so, sites continue to expand and develop loyal users. Polymarket, one of the largest players, shut down its U.S. operations in 2022 over licensing issues and concerns about manipulation. It relaunched in July of this year after acquiring QCX, a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange, and QC Clearing, a $112 million clearinghouse. Earlier this summer, the Justice Department and CFTC closed their investigations into the platform. “Demand is greater than evernot just in user growth and trading volume, but in how mainstream audiences are turning to Polymarket,” said founder and CEO Shayne Coplan at the time. The Crypto.comUnderdog market will try to sidestep those problems by offering contracts through Crypto.com’s Derivatives North America, a CFTC-registered exchange. Underdog will host the platform and continue to run its fantasy sports business. Users will be able to predict outcomes for the NFL, college football, the NBA, and Major League Baseball, with more leagues expected. The companies plan to first target states without legal sports betting, but described the platform as “federally compliant,” hinting at ambitions for nationwide expansion. Citizens analyst Jordan Bender estimates the sports prediction market could generate $555 million in revenues for participating companies. Thats small compared to the $13.71 billion sportsbooks made last year, but still significant.
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E-Commerce
Precious metal investors who hold gold assets are having a good day today. The king of precious metals, gold, has broken through an all-time high and is currently trading at over $3,551 per ounce as of the time of this writing. The milestone highlights a terrific year for gold so far. Heres what you need to know and why gold just hit an all-time high. Whats happened? The price of one ounce of gold hit an all-time high on Tuesday. One ounce of the precious metal passed $3,551 this morning, a new record. Golds rise post Labor Day is just the latest bit of good news for investors in the precious metal this year. Since the beginning of 2025, golds value has increased by more than 36%. Over the past year, gold has surged more than 42%. Golds previous milestone was only six months ago in March, when the metal surpassed the $3,000 mark for the first time. It has since surged more than $500 per ounce, hitting todays price of more than $3,550. Why is gold surging? There are several factors likely influencing the record-busting price of gold as of late. The first is that gold is often regarded as a safe-haven asset during times of economic uncertainty. Theres a good chance that when stock markets are falling, gold is rising. Thats because investors seek safe-haven assets that are less volatile than stocks. This year has been marked by uncertainty. Since President Trump took office for the second time in January and unleashed his tariffs upon the world in the spring, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty have spread across the globe, worrying investors. Such uncertainty has prompted some investors to seek safe-haven assets, such as gold. A potential crisis for the Fed But gold is likely also rising thanks to more recent Trump-fueled events, too. Specifically, President Trump has recently intensified his attacks on the Federal Reserve, increasing his criticism of the central bank and its monetary policies, particularly regarding interest rates, which the president believes are too high. In his war with the Fed, Trump has vocalized his desire to see Fed Chair Jerome Powell replaced, and, most recently, has announced the firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cooksomething Cook is challenging through the courts. Many economists fear Trump is trying to destroy the Feds independence and staff it with loyalists who will do his bidding, which would put the faith that global institutions and governments have in Americas central bank. This fear has already impacted the value of the U.S. dollar, which is also considered a traditional safe-haven asset. The Fed is widely expected to reduce interest rates by 0.25% on September 17. The rate cut, if it happens, would likely lead to a further decline in the dollars value. As Reuters notes, non-yielding gold often performs well in a low-interest-rate environment. Tariff uncertainty A final likely reason gold is up in recent days is Trumps tariffs. Not his imposition of them, but the possibility that most of the tariffs Trump has levied against countries since the spring are illegal and thus unenforceable. A U.S. appeals court vote of 74 on August 29 against the Trump Administration leaves open the possibility that the U.S. government may have to repay most of the tariffs it has collected so far. The ruling casts further uncertainty over the U.S. and global economiesand is a significant factor in why U.S. markets are down on their first trading day after the Labor Day holiday. As noted by Reuters, the court has allowed the tariffs to remain in place until October 14, and the Trump Administration has already said it will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up a significant courtroom showdown that could greatly curtailor reinforceTrumps power. Until then, investors seem to believe that gold may be one of the best bets as a hedge against the ongoing economic uncertainty.
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E-Commerce
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