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| The Daily Pitch |
| PE, VC and M&A |
| Your edge on global private capital markets |
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| We're halfway through the week. In today's Daily Pitch, we break down a dip in healthcare services deals, Topgolf's new PE backing and signs of moderation for VC valuations in Europe. |
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| Anthropic nets $15B from Microsoft, Nvidia as AI bets overlap |
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By Jacob Robbins, Technology Reporter
Microsoft and Nvidia are investing up to $15 billion in a newly announced partnership with OpenAI competitor Anthropic.
It's the latest deal to further entangle the interests of investors in the three biggest large language model providers.
Microsoft and Nvidia are investors in OpenAI—Anthropic's top competitor.
According to CNBC reporting, the deal also boosts Anthropic's valuation to around $350 billion, which would make it the world's third most valuable VC-backed company. An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment.
The partnership includes a commitment from Anthropic to purchase $30 billion in Microsoft Azure compute credits and up to a gigawatt of compute capacity powered by Nvidia chips. But the announcement also notes that Amazon, which has invested $8 billion into the company, will remain Anthropic’s primary cloud provider.
The deal highlights how investors in OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI aren’t taking sides over the future of generative AI, with many backing at least two out of the three—or now, in Nvidia’s case, investing in all three. |
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"This is a dream come true for us," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a video released by Anthropic yesterday.
Nvidia now joins the likes of Ark Ventures and Fidelity, which have invested in all three LLM providers.
In September, the chipmaker entered into a $100 billion computing partnership with OpenAI. It was reported in October that Nvidia planned to invest $2 billion into xAI and sell its GPUs to the Elon Musk-led company. |
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| Report: Why, When, and How Top PE Firms Use Surveys to Win Deals |
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Leading PE firms use surveys to gather objective, quantifiable, targeted insights that can’t be found in historical data or expert interviews. This real-time intelligence helps inform critical decisions both before and after the deal.
IncQuery, the leader in survey programming for PE, consulting, and strategy research, has a new report which explores the benefits of survey-based research.
Inside you’ll learn:
- Why top firms are winning with survey intelligence
- The critical moments to deploy surveys for maximum impact
- How to choose a partner that drives real results
It's time to gain a competitive edge and make data-driven decisions with speed, clarity, and confidence.
Download now |
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• Topgolf Callaway Brands has agreed to sell a 60% stake in Topgolf to PE firm Leonard Green. The deal values the golf entertainment business at about half of its valuation from its merger with Callaway in 2021. Find out more
• European VC valuations remained elevated in Q3, but signs of moderation are emerging. AI continues to dominate dealmaking, but valuation pressures are building after recent down rounds and other setbacks in the sector. Here's our full breakdown
• The UK's ICG has chosen Paris-based Amundi as exclusive global distributor for its evergreen and related private market products for the next decade, marking a distinctive strategy among major European PE firms. Read more |
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| Has PE healthcare services deal slide reached bottom? |
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By Brian Wright, Lead Healthcare Research Analyst
PE dealmaking in the healthcare services industry fell sharply in Q3—marking a 13% decline quarter-over-quarter as investors paused to reassess shifting regulatory and policy conditions.
An estimated 161 healthcare services deals closed or were announced, making it the softest quarter of the year. But year-to-date activity remains on track to slightly exceed 2024 levels, according to our latest report on the sector. |
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Much of the slowdown has centered on the physician practice management space, where investors are evaluating the revenue impacts of Medicaid cuts, stricter eligibility rules and pending ACA subsidy changes under the Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Regulatory actions in California have also contributed to a temporary reset. The market needed a quarter to digest a wave of policy shifts, but early signs point to stabilization rather than a structural downturn.
Despite the pause, several major acquisitions reinforced ongoing demand for scaled specialty providers.
Evernorth Health Services' $3.5 billion purchase of specialty pharmacy provider Shields Health Solutions was the quarter's largest transaction—followed by the $2.4 billion take-private of Canada's Dentalcorp and a $2.2 billion LBO of home infusion provider KabaFusion.
Performance across segments has diverged sharply. Skilled nursing facilities are on pace for a 148% increase in deal count over 2024, with hospitals and health systems up 122% and intellectual and developmental disabilities practices up 113%.
Meanwhile, gastroenterology saw no deals in Q3 as patients choose GLP-1 drugs over more invasive procedures. Dermatology and OB-GYN remain down double digits for the year.
Extended hold times should unlock a wave of exits as interest rates fall. Nearly half of PE-backed healthcare services assets have been held more than five years.
Coupled with accelerating AI adoption in provider operations and revenue-cycle management, the sector appears positioned for a rebound in M&A in 2026. |
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Smart reads that caught our eye.
• OpenAI executive Fidji Simo wants to address the mental health impacts of AI usage. Simo, who is the company's CEO of applications, sees big responsibility in overseeing the risk OpenAI's products create in society. [Wired]
• AI startup Humain will be one of the first to benefit from new agreements between the US and Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration plans to approve sales of AI chips to Saudi Arabia, marking a victory for big American semiconductor manufacturers. [Bloomberg]
• Cloudflare says yesterday's outage was not the product of an attack, but of an unusual change in web traffic. An internal service error caused major websites, including ChatGPT and New York's MTA to go down Tuesday morning. [ | | | | | | | |
