Ex-Anthropic staffers' startup Mirendil seeks $5 billion valuation

By Splitfeed EditorialLast updated Sep 26, 2026, 20:18 UTC

On September 22, 2026, reports emerged that Mirendil, a startup founded by former Anthropic employees, is in talks to raise funding at a $5 billion valuation. PYMNTS noted this figure represents a fivefold increase over a prior valuation, while Crypto Briefing highlighted that the company launched only months ago. Mirendil focuses on self-improving AI systems, a category that sits at the more ambitious and contested end of current AI development. The following day, The Information reported that Anthropic itself is in talks to lease up to 1 gigawatt of data center capacity from Stream Data Centers, a firm backed by Apollo, and is also seeking broader control over additional data center infrastructure.

Both stories, arriving within 24 hours of each other, point to the same underlying dynamic: the AI industry is absorbing enormous capital at a pace that continues to accelerate even as foundational questions about what these systems can actually deliver remain open. A months-old startup reaching a $5 billion valuation on the strength of a focus area, self-improving AI, that has not yet produced widely verified results is a striking data point. Meanwhile, Anthropic's pursuit of gigawatt-scale compute reflects how central physical infrastructure has become to competitive positioning in the field. Neither deal has been confirmed with public comment on terms or timelines by any party involved.

Because no camp has published reactions to this specific story, what follows reflects what each would typically argue. Pro-AI voices would likely treat both developments as evidence that serious talent and serious capital are converging on the problems that matter most, and that the market is correctly pricing transformative potential. Anti-AI voices would likely raise concern about a valuation detached from demonstrated product or safety record, and about the resource concentration that gigawatt-scale infrastructure deals represent. The Middle Ground camp would probably acknowledge the genuine technical interest in self-improving systems while questioning whether the funding environment is running ahead of the governance and verification frameworks needed to assess whether such systems are safe or meaningful.

The clearest near-term signal to watch is whether either fundraise closes and on what terms. A confirmed close for Mirendil at or near the $5 billion figure would set a new benchmark for how early investors are pricing self-improving AI as a category. For Anthropic, finalizing the Stream Data Centers lease would be a concrete indicator of how aggressively the company is moving to secure compute independence ahead of anticipated demand.