Happy Monday. AI coding companies are raising big capital, Monterey Car Week set a new record, Anthropic is looking for a $2 trillion IPO, and Robinhood’s venture fund disappointed on day one. Let’s dive in!
🎫 Register: For our next investor briefing looking at the burgeoning global space economy and investment opportunities in spacetech companies.
This issue is brought to you by Orbit2Orbit: Building the Backbone of In-Space Logistics.
📈 WEEKLY MARKETS
🤖 AI CODING
Last week, multiple AI-coding startups raised big funding rounds with significant step-ups in valuation. Leading the way was Cognition, which is reportedly in talks to raise new capital at $40 billion valuation, more than a 50% gain from its $26 billion valuation from only three months ago and 20x from its $2 billion valuation two years ago. Meanwhile, European startup Lovable raised a $400 million funding round at a $13.3 billion valuation, Finally, CodeRabbit secured $143 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, triple its previous $500 million valuation from last September.
➨ TAKEAWAY: VC is pouring tons of money into coding-related AI startups, as it seems to be one use case for the technology that is actually working. And don’t forget that SpaceX just officially acquired AI coding company Cursor for $60 billion last week. The rapid gains in valuation clearly reflect strong institutional conviction in the sector, but Pre-IPO investors should make sure revenue multiples don’t get too inflated with the surrounding hype.
Partner
The Space Economy Stops at Launch. Orbit2Orbit Doesn’t.
Billions go into getting payloads off the ground. Almost nothing exists to move them once they’re up there. Orbit2Orbit is building that layer: autonomous cargo vehicles that deploy, service, and transport payloads between orbital platforms. This isn’t a concept company. First mission flown, flight heritage achieved, manufacturing facility operational, commercial customers signed, and a qualified pipeline exceeding $10 million. A financing round is now open, with details available to interested investors. View the investor deck at orbit2orbit.space/investors or reach out at [email protected].
📺 UPCOMING EVENT
Join Vincent CEO Eric Cantor, Orbit2Orbit CEO Bradley Hatton-Jones, and Mach33 CEO Aaron Burnett for a discussion on why space is becoming one of the most compelling investment opportunities for the next decade. From reusable rockets and lower launch costs to the rise of commercial space stations and in-orbit infrastructure, they’ll explore what’s driving the commercial space economy, and why investors are paying attention.
Wednesday August 19 at 4 PM ET
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
🚘 Monterey Car Week results: The auctions at last week’s Monterey Car Week totaled nearly $750 million in sales, a new all-time record, and well above the pre-sale estimates of between $470 million - $500 million. The top lots were a $42.9 million 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe that sold at Christie’s and a $40 million 2026 Ferrari Luce Tailor Made Sedan that sold at RM Sotheby’s. The Shelby set a new record for the most expensive American car ever sold at auction.
🤖 Anthropic targets $2T IPO: The AI startup is reportedly seeking a $2 trillion valuation in its upcoming IPO, which would make it the highest ever in a public offering, beating SpaceX’s $1.77 mark from May. Anthropic is likely to go public this fall, and has reportedly surpassed $100 billion in annualized revenue.
🚀 RVII debuts: Robinhood launched its second publicly traded venture fund, and it opened at $22.50 per share, 10% below its IPO price, before clawing back to $24.45 per share by the end of the day. The fund is targeting exclusively early-stage startups and it seems investors were not clamoring to get in on its first trading day.
📊 Retail sales slow: U.S. retail sales fell by 0.6% in July, the first negative month this year and the biggest drop since last May. This decline combined with a drop in consumer sentiment, and with the weak jobs report is raising concerns of an economic slowdown and likely to stave off an Fed interest rate hike next month.
🎮 Rare Mario cartridges: A box of 97 pristine 1993 Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt cartridges was discovered sitting in storage at a Wisconsin game shop, with five of them subsequently receiving perfect 10 grades from PSA. A few cartridges are currently being sold at a Goldin auction that ends next month.
🪙 Trump firm gets bank charter: In a move that should surprise no one, the Trump-owned crypto firm World Liberty Financial received preliminary approval from Trump-appointed regulators to received a national trust bank charter. This approval will allow the firm to directly issue its USD1 stablecoin nationwide without relying on financial intermediaries.
📆 LOOKING FORWARD
Monday: NAHB homebuilder confidence index released.
Tuesday: Housing starts and building permits reports released.
Wednesday: The U.S. is set to enact 50% tariffs on Canadian goods.
Thursday: The CFTC will meet to discuss the regulation of prediction markets.
Friday: The English Premier League season begins with Arsenal hosting Coventry - most major European soccer leagues also begin their season this week.
Friday-Sunday: Heritage’s Summer Platinum Night Sports auction, featuring a $4 million T206 Honus Wagner card and the “Hand of God” soccer ball that carries a $10 million pre-sale estimate.
