Anthropic Opens Its Books, EQT Buys Qiagen for €9.6 Billion, and Legora, Pigment and Blackwall Raise Big
Anthropic's public IPO filing showed $16.3 billion in first-half revenue and an $80.7 billion loss that is mostly non-cash. EQT agreed to buy Qiagen, and Goldman Sachs took a majority of Celnor. Legora, Pigment and Blackwall raised at higher valuations. Nscale is reportedly negotiating a second $45 billion compute deal. And a Romanian angel network showed how small early-stage rounds really are.
One document dominated the week. Anthropic's S-1, filed publicly on Monday, gave investors the first audited look at what a frontier AI lab actually earns, spends and owes. It arrived after a rough fortnight for AI stocks, when CoreWeave's slide over its debt load fed a wider selloff. Reuters, citing Bloomberg, reported that some investors had urged Anthropic to lower its valuation target. The filing leaves the price range blank, so that argument is still open.
Elsewhere, capital kept moving to places with clear customers and clear exits. Private equity paid up for a diagnostics group and a compliance platform. Three European software and security startups raised at higher prices. The pattern may suggest that investors are less afraid of AI itself than of paying for it without evidence.
Capital Markets: Anthropic Publishes Its S-1
Anthropic made its IPO registration public on Monday, October 26, planning to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. The filing shows revenue of about $16.3 billion for the six months to June 30, more than triple the $4.6 billion booked in all of 2025. Second-quarter revenue alone was $11.56 billion. Spending on compute and infrastructure reached roughly $9 billion in the half, above the $7.3 billion spent in the whole of 2025.
The headline loss needs careful reading. About $72.4 billion of the $80.7 billion came from fair-value changes on convertible notes, derivative liabilities and simple agreements for future equity, which rise as the company's valuation rises. The operating picture is smaller. Yahoo Finance's reading of the filing shows an operating loss of around $1.7 billion in the first quarter and an operating profit of $974 million in the second. The price range, share count and raise size are all blank, and reports have put the target valuation near $2 trillion.
Revenue growth this fast is rare, but the S-1 also shows how capital-hungry the model is. Compute commitments will keep rising, and a non-cash loss can still become a real cash problem if funding markets tighten. The pricing, and whether investors accept the valuation Bloomberg says some of them questioned, will tell us more than the revenue line alone.
AI Infrastructure: Nscale Eyes a Second $45 Billion Anthropic Deal
Bloomberg reported on October 19, and Reuters confirmed through its own source, that Nscale is in talks to sell Anthropic computing power from a second building at its Monarch campus in West Virginia. In August, Anthropic reportedly agreed to spend $45 billion over six years at the first building. Reuters also reported that Anthropic holds a right of first refusal on a planned third building. Neither company has announced a completed contract, and the terms could change.
The news landed a day after the Telegraph reported that Microsoft had terminated its agreement for Nscale's Loughton site over grid delays, as covered in last week's issue. Nscale's prospectus identifies Microsoft and Anthropic as its expected major customers.
Bloomberg put Anthropic's existing Nscale commitments at as much as $44.6 billion, which would be roughly 40% of the $103 billion contract book if both figures hold. A single large customer can fund a campus. It can also leave a developer exposed if that customer's own financing gets harder, which is why this week's AI stock selloff matters to Nscale's planned IPO.
Private Equity: Diagnostics and Compliance Keep Getting Bought
EQT agreed on October 21 to buy molecular-testing company Qiagen for about €9.6 billion, with affiliates of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board taking part. The 8.6% premium to the last close looks thin. It sits on top of a share price that had already risen on takeover reports. Against the unaffected price of July 8, the offer is 40.3% higher. The bid needs acceptances covering at least 50% of the capital plus one share, and closing is expected in mid-2027. Thermo Fisher's 2020 attempt to buy Qiagen collapsed when shareholders held out for more.
On October 23, Inflexion said it will sell a majority of Celnor to Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Reuters, citing a person familiar with the situation, put the value at about €1 billion, and terms were not disclosed. Inflexion launched Celnor in 2023 as a platform for testing, inspection and compliance businesses. It now has more than 2,750 employees and revenue above £300 million. Inflexion keeps a minority stake, and closing is expected in the first quarter of 2027, subject to approvals.
Venture: Three Rounds, Three Different Bets
Stockholm and New York-based Legora announced a $550 million Series E on October 21, led by new investor Atreides Management. It says annual recurring revenue has passed $200 million, after going from $1 million to $100 million in under 18 months and then adding another $100 million in under six. The US is its largest market, and more than half of the AmLaw 50 are customers. US rival Harvey raised $550 million at $15.5 billion about six weeks earlier, so Legora is priced well below the market leader.
Paris-based Pigment raised $250 million at a $2.3 billion valuation, in a round led by the Scaleup Europe Fund, which EQT manages. Nvidia has a planned investment, which confirms the stake that Les Echos reported last week. Pigment says it passed $100 million in ARR this year, and that agents now create 85% of new metrics on its platform. That figure is the company's own.
Estonia's Blackwall, formerly BotGuard, raised $100 million led by AVP. It sells bot and traffic security through hosting providers, who rebrand the tools and keep the customer relationship. Blackwall calls itself Europe's most valuable cybersecurity scaleup, a claim Exein has also made at $1.7 billion.
Fintech: Europe Writes the Rules for Digital ID in Payments
The European Payments Council announced on October 19 that it is developing SCARLET, a rulebook and liability framework for accepting EU Digital Identity Wallets in payment authentication. The EPC expects more than 3,000 payment service providers and at least 27 wallet providers across the EU and EEA, and member states must make wallets available by December 24, 2026. SCARLET would set common technical and operating rules and decide who is liable when a wallet-based payment goes wrong. The EPC board approved it on September 24. An open consultation is planned for summer 2027, and the first rulebook is targeted for December 2027. It is a long timetable, which suggests banks will be accepting wallets before the rules are final.
Romania: Angels Fill the Early-Stage Gap
Bravva Angels reported on October 21 that its members joined rounds in Solmag, EdNeos, Rayscape and Watergenics over the past three months. Solmag, which monitors solar energy production, used its funding to open a first production unit for its devices. Rayscape, based in Timișoara, develops AI for radiology and says its tools are used in more than 20 countries. Watergenics is a Berlin-based water-quality sensor company founded by a Romanian. EdNeos is used by companies in Romania and Luxembourg.
The sums are small beside this week's global numbers. The founder of Bravva Angels says startups she sees are seeking rounds of €200,000 to €2 million. That is the gap where Romanian companies often stall between first validation and institutional money, and angel networks like this one help fill it.
Cross-Sector Snapshot: October 19 – 26
| Area | This week's signal | Primary risk | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Markets | Anthropic publishes its S-1: $16.3B first-half revenue, $80.7B net loss, mostly non-cash | Price range, raise size and valuation are blank; some investors reportedly want a lower target | The price range and whether the offering prices near the $2T reports |
| AI Infrastructure | Nscale and Anthropic reportedly discuss a second $45B deal for 460 MW in West Virginia | Customer concentration and Nscale's own IPO, after the Microsoft exit from Loughton | Whether the deal is signed and how Nscale's IPO prices |
| Private Equity | EQT agrees €9.6B for Qiagen; Goldman takes a majority of Celnor at about €1B | Qiagen needs 50% acceptance, and shareholders blocked Thermo Fisher in 2020 | Qiagen's acceptance level and any rival interest |
| Venture | Legora ($8.8B), Pigment ($2.3B) and Blackwall ($2.2B) raise at higher valuations | ARR and agent-usage figures are company-reported | Pigment's Nvidia investment closing, and Legora against Harvey |
| Fintech | EPC starts SCARLET, a rulebook for EU Digital Identity Wallets in payments | The rulebook is not due until December 2027 | The summer 2027 consultation |
| Romania | Bravva Angels members fund four startups with €220K+ in three months | Rounds are small and the fifth deal is confidential | Whether angel-backed companies reach larger institutional rounds |
Synthesised from Reuters, Bloomberg, Fortune, Yahoo Finance, Tech.eu, The Next Web, Revista Biz and company statements, week of October 19-26, 2026.
Step back and the week is a test of price discipline. Private equity paid a clear premium for businesses with visible cash flows. Venture investors paid higher prices for growth they can measure. Anthropic now has to ask public markets to do the same for an AI lab whose costs are as large as its revenue. The answer will shape how the others in this issue are valued next.
Which story are you watching most closely: Anthropic's pricing, the Qiagen acceptance level, or Nscale's second deal? Drop a take below. Share this if it was useful. Subscribe for next week's edition directly.
Verified Sources
| Source | URL |
|---|---|
| SEC EDGAR: Anthropic, PBC, Form S-1 | sec.gov/anthropic-pbc-s-1 |
| Fortune: Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows $16.3 billion in revenue and an $80.7 billion net loss | fortune.com/anthropics-s-1 |
| Yahoo Finance: Anthropic publicly files IPO prospectus, noting strong revenue growth and massive spending | finance.yahoo.com/anthropic-files-prospectus |
| Yahoo Finance: Anthropic IPO live updates, S-1 filing discloses $16.3B in first-half revenue | finance.yahoo.com/anthropic-ipo-live-updates |
| Reuters via The Star: Nvidia-backed Nscale, Anthropic in talks for new $45 billion AI cloud deal | thestar.com.my/nscale-anthropic-45-billion |
| Let's Data Science: Nscale and Anthropic reportedly discuss $45B second Monarch deal | letsdatascience.com/nscale-anthropic-monarch |
| Reuters via WHTC: Buyout firm EQT to acquire Qiagen for $10.8 billion | whtc.com/eqt-qiagen |
| Goldesel: Qiagen Aktie, EQT bietet 46,50 Euro je Aktie | goldesel.de/qiagen-eqt-offer |
| Reuters via Global Banking & Finance: Inflexion sells majority stake in Celnor to Goldman Sachs Alternatives | globalbankingandfinance.com/celnor-goldman |
| Dealroom: Goldman Sachs buys majority of 300M UK testing group Celnor | dealroom.co/goldman-celnor |
| Legora: Series E press release | legora.com/series-e |
| The Next Web: Swedish legal AI firm Legora raises $550M led by Atreides at $8.8B valuation | thenextweb.com/legora-series-e |
| The Next Web: Pigment raises $250M at $2.3B valuation in round led by EQT fund | thenextweb.com/pigment-series-e |
| Vestbee: Pigment raises $250M at $2.3B valuation | vestbee.com/pigment-250m |
| Tech.eu: Blackwall hits $2.2B valuation with $100M Series C | tech.eu/blackwall-series-c |
| Tech Funding News: Blackwall raises $100M at $2.2B valuation | techfundingnews.com/blackwall-2-2b |
| FF News: EPC launches SCARLET to standardise EU Digital Identity Wallet acceptance for payments | ffnews.com/epc-scarlet |
| The Paypers: EPC to develop SCARLET scheme for EU Digital Identity Wallets | thepaypers.com/epc-scarlet |
| Revista Biz: Bravva Angels a investit peste 220.000 de euro in startup-uri | revistabiz.ro/bravva-angels |
| Economica: Comunitatea Bravva Angels finanteaza noi startup-uri | economica.net/bravva-angels |
