The Week's Tricks & Treats: Anthropic's IPO Filing, Big Tech's AI Spending Monster and the Fed's Scary Split
By Jose Ruiz · · 7 min read
Happy Halloween, crowd! 🎃
This week had everything a good horror movie needs: monsters (AI spending bills), a split jury (the Fed), and a few sweet surprises (a $1.7B exit and India's biggest IPO popping 21%). Grab the candy bowl. Here are the tricks and treats of the week.
In this week's Founderscrowds:
🍬 Treat: Anthropic files to go public as ANT
🍬 Treat: Jio pops 21% and a $1.7B AI exit
🎃 Trick: Big Tech's AI spending monster
🎃 Trick: the Fed splits and Meta sells $95B of stock
🧠 A Halloween pop quiz
Your call before you read:
Trick or treat: what was the scariest thing for investors this week? |
Read time: 5 minutes
The ice cream shop that makes money when it's cold
28 Wishes sells ice cream in Los Angeles. Below 70°F, sales fall about 20%. The weather is out of their hands. Rent isn't.
So the owners started putting about $20 a day into weather markets, taking the cold side. The days that keep customers away now pay something back.
This is hedging. Big companies have done it for decades, buying protection against bad weather, fuel spikes and rising rates. It used to take a broker, a trading desk, and an order size no corner shop could meet.
opens it up. Contracts on weather, fuel prices, inflation, tariffs and regulation, starting at a few dollars. Take a position on the outcome that would hurt you. If it hits, the payout softens it. If it doesn't, the contract expires and the good month was the point.
🍬 THE TREATS
TREAT #1 · THE IPO
🧾 Anthropic Filed to Go Public. Ticker: ANT
The scoop: Anthropic filed its IPO paperwork and plans to list on Nasdaq as ANT. The Wall Street Journal says it could raise $100B or more at a $1.5T to $2T valuation, as soon as the week of November 16.
The details:
$16.3B in revenue in the first half of 2026, up from $1.2B a year earlier
$112.4B in cash on hand as of June 30
Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are running the deal
Spookiest line in the filing: a risk factor about AI models that could resist being shut down
Why it matters: This would be the biggest IPO ever by a wide margin. Whatever price ANT gets becomes the yardstick for every AI startup still raising money privately.
TREAT #2 · THE POP
🇮🇳 Jio Jumped 21% in India's Biggest IPO Ever
Sweet debut: Reliance's Jio Platforms listed Wednesday at ₹1,358, 21% above its IPO price, after raising ₹30,213 crore, the largest IPO in India's history.
The details:
Demand was 22x the shares on offer, and 70x among big institutions
Market value of about ₹12.5 lakh crore, second only to its parent Reliance in India
Why it matters: The mega-IPO is back worldwide. A record US IPO filing and India's biggest listing ever landed in the same week.
TREAT #3 · THE EXIT
🤝 $90M In, $1.7B Out: An AI Startup's Sweet Exit
The deal: Guidewire agreed to buy London-based Hyperexponential, which builds AI software for insurance pricing, for $1.7B in cash, plus up to $400M more.
The details:
It raised only about $90M since 2017, from backers including Andreessen Horowitz and Battery Ventures
About 600 insurers in 40 countries use its software
Why it matters: This is the full-size candy bar of venture exits: a roughly 20x return on capital raised, paid in cash.
🎃 THE TRICKS
TRICK #1 · BIG TECH
👹 The AI Spending Monster Ate Big Tech's Cash
Plot twist: Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon all reported booming cloud businesses this week. Two of the three stocks still fell because the bills for AI data centers keep getting scarier.
Who got tricked:
Amazon: AWS grew 39%, its fastest in nearly five years. But earnings missed, it spent $77.3B on capex in one quarter, and the stock fell 6% to 7% after hours
Alphabet: Google Cloud more than doubled to $30.7B, but record spending pushed free cash flow to negative $9.1B. Shares fell as much as 8%
Microsoft: the one treat. Azure grew 48% to $33.2B, it spent less than expected and shares rose about 4%
Why it matters: Investors now only reward AI spending that clearly pays for itself. That bar matters for every AI company heading to the public markets next, including Anthropic.
TRICK #2 · THE FED
🏦 The Fed Held Rates. Two Officials Wanted a Hike
Scary split: The Fed held rates at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack wanted a hike, the first time since 1992 a governor and a regional president dissented together.
The details:
Inflation was 3.7% in September
Traders saw a 78% chance of a hike in December
Why it matters: Higher rates make money more expensive for startups and IPO hopefuls. A December hike would be the scariest thing on the 2027 fundraising calendar.
TRICK #3 · META
💸 Meta Wants $95B of Your Money. Not Your Vote
The trick: After a decade of buying back its own stock, Meta launched a plan to sell up to $95B of new shares to fund AI, mostly non-voting Class C shares.
The details:
$35B now, and $60B more sold bit by bit starting in early 2027
Its own chip suppliers, Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom, may buy up to $5B
Why it matters: When even Meta has to sell stock to keep up with AI spending, the race has officially gotten expensive.
🧠 HALLOWEEN POP QUIZ
No peeking at the stories above. 👻
Pop quiz: how fast did Amazon's cloud business (AWS) grow last quarter? |
QUICK HITS
🦇 Everything else you need to know
Cohere, the Canadian AI startup, hit a $20.5B valuation in a round backed by Canada and Nvidia. Read more
Bedrock Robotics, which builds self-driving construction equipment, raised $600M at a $4.1B valuation. Read more
SpaceX closed $40B of debt for AI chips, and Elon Musk warned that lenders are shutting the door on AI cloud startups. Read more
Intel is buying quantum startup Classiq for about $2.3B, and GE Vernova is paying $9B for grid equipment maker Trench Group. Intel · GE Vernova
🎓 Catch up on Founderscrowds
Quick answers
When is the Anthropic IPO?
Anthropic filed to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. According to The Wall Street Journal, it is targeting the week of November 16, 2026, and could raise $100 billion or more at a $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion valuation. Timing could change.
Why did Amazon stock fall after Q3 2026 earnings?
Amazon reported Q3 2026 earnings per share of $1.89, below the roughly $1.96 analysts expected, and revenue of $201.9 billion, slightly below estimates. AWS grew 39%, but heavy AI spending of $77.3 billion in the quarter weighed on the stock, which fell about 6% to 7% after hours.
What did the Fed decide on October 28, 2026?
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote. Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of a quarter-point hike.
That's a wrap. Hit reply and tell us: what's the scariest investment you ever made? Best story gets featured (anonymously) next week. 👻
From all of us: Happy Halloween! Enjoy the treats, watch out for the tricks. 🎃
Jose, Alberto & the Founderscrowds Team
Disclaimer: Founderscrowds is a media company. We are not a broker-dealer, funding portal, investment adviser or financial planner, and we do not collect or hold investor funds. Nothing in this email is investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Views on any company or deal are the writers' opinions and are not tailored to you. Some content may be sponsored or affiliate-linked, and writers may hold positions in companies we cover. Data comes from third-party sources and is not guaranteed. Private market investments are speculative, illiquid and can lose their entire value, and many offerings are limited to accredited investors.
Sources
Investing.com: Anthropic files for Nasdaq IPO
TelecomLead: Jio Platforms lists at 21% premium
TechCrunch: Guidewire buys Hyperexponential for $1.7B
Forbes: AWS revenue rises to $46 billion
Newscord: Amazon misses earnings as shares drop
Fortune: Alphabet's cloud revenue doubles as cash flow stays red
Traders Agency (citing CNBC): Microsoft beats as Azure tops $33B
TipRanks: Meta launches $95B stock offering plan
Bloomberg: Canada, Nvidia back Cohere at $20.5B
Bloomberg: Bedrock Robotics hits $4.1B valuation
Yahoo Finance: Musk says SpaceX raised $40B in debt
All story images are AI-generated illustrations.
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Disclaimer: Founderscrowds is a media company. We are not a broker-dealer, funding portal, investment adviser or financial planner, and we do not collect or hold investor funds. All content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not investment, legal or tax advice or an offer to buy or sell any security. Views on any company or deal are our writers' opinions. Some content is sponsored. Private market investments are speculative, illiquid and may result in the loss of your entire investment; many offerings are limited to accredited investors. Read full disclaimer
