Mirendil, founded by ex-Anthropic staff, in talks to raise at $5B valuation

Per Bloomberg reporter Natasha Mascarenhas, Mirendil, a startup founded by former Anthropic researchers building self-improving AI, is in talks to raise about $1B at a $5B valuation led by Kleiner Perkins. The lab has over 20 employees and plans to release its first frontier model by early next year.

Confirmed

• The report was carried by Bloomberg/Techmeme, with consistent retellings by @nmasc, @shiringhaffary, and @shashib.
• The company has 20+ employees, no public model yet, and targets a frontier-level first release in early next year.
• Its seed round was $200M at a $1B valuation in June; the new round is about $1B at a $5B valuation.

Unconfirmed

• The round is still in talks with no official announcement; Kleiner Perkins' lead role rests on the report.

Why it matters

• The valuation jumping from $1B to $5B within six months underscores investor fervor for self-improving AI and ex-Anthropic teams, another landmark case in the current AI startup funding boom.

2026-09-23 ~ 2026-09-23 · 5 related posts

• [source] Ex-Anthropic staffers' startup Mirendil raising at $5B valuation: scoop — nmasc_ · 2026-09-23
• [source] Mirendil, 20-person lab of ex-Anthropic researchers, reportedly raising at $5B valuation — shashib · 2026-09-23

3 near-duplicate retellings: nmasc_ · shiringhaffary · nmasc_