Anthropic Recruits Google AI Talent as Airwallex Expands AI Finance Stack

CB Insights is tracking key developments in the technology sector, including staffing shifts at AI firm Anthropic and strategic product launches by fintech company Airwallex.

Anthropic has reportedly recruited several senior researchers from Google’s DeepMind AI unit. Notable hires include Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel, who contributed to the Gemini project, and John Jumper, a director at DeepMind and Nobel laureate for work on AlphaFold. According to CB Insights data, this brings Anthropic's total DeepMind hires to five, surpassing OpenAI’s three hires over a longer period. The company has significantly expanded its workforce, with technical roles comprising over a third of its approximately 5,000 employees, ahead of a potential IPO.

Meanwhile, Airwallex has raised $320 million in a Series H funding round and launched two new products: Airi, a consumer wallet for agentic commerce using fiat and stablecoins, and T:0, an AI-powered stack for business finance. These launches signal a broader strategic expansion beyond cross-border payments into the infrastructure for autonomous finance and agentic commerce.

CB Insights notes that other startups like Catena Labs, Skyfire, and Basis Theory are also building components of this emerging infrastructure. Airwallex's strategy appears to be integrating more of this stack, with activities spanning payment networks, embedded finance, business software, e-commerce, and tokenized finance, including an investment in Metal, an institutional L1 for stablecoins and tokenized assets.

Additionally, CB Insights highlights that eight companies from its AI 100 list have raised funding in the past two months. Among them is Assort Health, a healthcare voice AI platform, which secured $120 million in a Series C round. A total of 27 AI 100 companies are currently considered to be in their funding window.