Microsoft’s new agents, Anthropic’s $3.5 billion, and a new startup: This week’s AI launches

AI startup Anthropic raised a $3.5 billion Series E funding round this week, valuing itself at $61.5 billion. Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round, which also included Bessemer Venture Partners and General Catalyst.

The investment will be used to develop the startup’s next-generation AI systems, Anthropic said. It will also go toward adding computing capacity, conducting research, and expanding the company globally.

The company recently released Claude 3.7 Sonnet, which it called its “most intelligent model to date and the first hybrid reasoning model on the market.” Anthropic also introduced Claude Code in a limited research preview.