Acquires

• Stripe completed the acquisition of Wise Exchange, a fintech startup specializing in cross-border payment optimization, for $1.2 billion in stock on April 18, expanding its international payment capabilities. • The acquisition adds Wise Exchange's proprietary currency conversion algorithms and partnerships with 40+ financial institutions across Europe, Asia, and Americas to Stripe's existing platform. • Industry analysts view this acquisition as Stripe's strategic response to intensifying competition from Block, PayPal, and traditional payment networks in the global payments sector.

• American Express acquired Hyper, an AI startup specializing in automating expense categorization, compliance, and reporting. • Hyper's agent-based technology supports multistep workflows with minimal human input, targeting corporate finance teams. • The deal bolsters AmEx's commercial services amid surging demand for AI in financial operations.

• OpenAI acquired Hiro Finance, its second startup purchase in a month, focusing on AI tools for financial planning as first reported by TechCrunch. • The deal expands OpenAI's capabilities into fiscal management amid racing agent development with Anthropic and Nvidia for web-browsing, emailing, and booking tasks. • This move signals intensifying M&A in AI finance, cutting development time for enterprises adopting similar tech like Accenture-Replit code generation.

• Anthropic expanded its AI strategy by acquiring AI drug discovery startup Coefficient Bio for approximately $400 million and launching a political action committee to influence AI regulation. • The company is also seeing surging investor demand for its shares amid tightening AI infrastructure supply and growing market appetite. • These moves position Anthropic to shape policy, enter life sciences, and capitalize on demand for leading AI technologies in the US.

• Meta Platforms acquired Manus, a Singapore-based AI startup, in a deal valued at over $2 billion to advance AI infrastructure. • The acquisition bolsters Meta's capabilities in AI development amid US tech competition. • Details on Manus technology integration remain pending announcement.

• Anthropic acquired Coefficient Bio, a startup founded eight months ago with fewer than 10 employees, for roughly $400 million in shares, despite it having no product or revenue. • The platform uses AI for pharmaceutical tasks like drug research planning and identifying new drug opportunities, positioning Anthropic's models for scientific discovery in life sciences. • This bet signals a strategic push into AI-driven biotech, potentially accelerating drug development amid growing competition in applied AI verticals.

• Anthropic acquired startup Coefficient Bio for more than $400 million to bolster its AI capabilities amid recent challenges like a source code leak. • The deal follows Anthropic's npm packaging error exposing Claude Code's source code, including memory architecture and model roadmap. • This acquisition strengthens Anthropic's position despite setbacks, potentially aiding future developments in autonomous AI features.