Google has announced its acquisition of internal data from Spirit Airlines, which recently ceased operations due to rising jet fuel costs and significant debt, for $10 million. This substantial dataset contains a wealth of information including hundreds of millions of employee emails, Microsoft Teams messages, spreadsheets, calendars, and various operational data. To ensure privacy, all data will be anonymized prior to release. The acquisition sparked considerable competition, with Google ultimately outbidding data labeling startup Mercor, which had offered $7.5 million for the same data.
In recent years, enterprise data has emerged as a highly sought-after resource for training AI models, especially since most publicly available internet data was captured by late 2024. Companies that have ceased operations often leave behind a digital goldmine—ranging from codebases and email correspondence to IT tickets—that accurately reflect workplace dynamics. Startups like Sunset and SimpleClosure are now acquiring this data to enhance their AI training efforts.
In other notable developments, Forbes has reported a significant uptick in revenue for AI firm Anthropic, which reached a run rate of $65 billion as of July, a substantial increase from $47 million in May. Not only has Anthropic's coding agent gained popularity, but the company also plans to go public later this year. In comparison, OpenAI has recently surpassed an annualized revenue of $40 billion. Anthropic has ambitious projections, estimating its revenue could hit approximately $200 billion by 2028.
In the realm of influential figures within AI, Camilla Clark, spouse of Anthropic's co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei, maintains a low profile despite her significant influence. Little information is publicly available about her, but recent pieces have revealed that she once sought investment from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for her luxury adult entertainment venture. Prior to her relationship with Amodei, she developed a social dieting app and played a pivotal role in connecting him with Eric Schmidt, enabling Schmidt to invest in Anthropic's early funding rounds.
Additionally, the AI landscape has seen substantial investment activity, as AI video generation startup Higgsfield secured $400 million in its Series B funding round, achieving a valuation of $5.4 billion. DST Global led the financing, with participation from several notable investors including Goldman Sachs Capital. Since its inception in early 2025, the company has experienced remarkable growth, reporting $700 million in annual revenue within just 16 months.
Moreover, payments giant Stripe has completed a deal to acquire OpenRouter for upwards of $7 billion. OpenRouter's technology enables businesses to seamlessly switch between AI models to generate varied responses, following a recent funding round that valued the startup at $1.3 billion.
On a broader note, the startup ecosystem continues to cultivate young billionaires, with 25-year-old James Dacombe emerging as Europe's youngest self-made billionaire through his chipmaking startup, Olix. After founding CoMind, a brain monitoring company, and forgoing traditional education for a Thiel Fellowship, Dacombe's Olix recently reached a valuation of $3.3 billion after raising significant investment. He holds a 30% stake in Olix and a 12% share in CoMind, which also recently attracted considerable funding.
Among other young moguls, Arvid Lunnemark, co-founder of AI code editing company Cursor, has recently seen his net worth surge alongside his co-founders following a $60 billion acquisition of Cursor by SpaceX. Another Swedish entrepreneur, Fabian Hedin of Lovable, has also witnessed significant growth in his fortunes following recent funding rounds.
This wave of young entrepreneurs reflects the accelerating trend of rapid wealth accumulation within the global startup sphere, highlighting the increasing prevalence of self-made billionaires under 30. Currently, the title of the youngest self-made billionaire globally belongs to Surya Midha, who was just 22 when his AI recruitment startup raised $10 billion, elevating his net worth to approximately $2.2 billion.
