MAM
Ikea to open its first city store in Mumbai on 9 December
Mumbai: Swedish home furnishing retailer Ikea (part of the Ingka Group) will open the doors to its first city store in India at Worli here on 9 December, the company announced.
The Worli City Store will span across 80,000 sq ft and is smaller than its traditional big box stores that typically spread across 400,000-500,000 sq ft. The city store format allows Ikea to be adapted to smaller spaces in an urban context and makes it more convenient for customers to experience the entire Ikea range based on a well-integrated digital and physical shopping experience, the company said in a statement.
“This is an important milestone in our Mumbai journey. As the first city store in the country, we are coming near to more of the many people. This is a new concept for customers to shop with Ikea. They can enjoy an omnichannel shopping experience at this store, browse and order our entire range through various digital tools,” said Ikea Worli City Store India store manager Dawid Gałka on the occasion of the wordmark unveiling.
“Currently, the whole team is working towards creating an excellent customer experience with all safe shopping measures in place when we open. We are looking forward to fulfilling home furnishing needs through a range of digital tools as well as the new city store format,” he added.
As a part of promoting a safe shopping experience, customers who are looking forward to shop at IKEA Worli City Store, need to follow the latest COVID-19 guidelines by being fully vaccinated with two doses and should have completed 14 days after the second dose, shared the retailer.
Currently, the home furnishing major has two stores in the country, its first one in Hyderabad which opened in August 2018 and the second in Navi Mumbai which opened in December 2020.
Digital
Anthropic eyes $900bn valuation in new funding round ahead of IPO: Reports
Claude maker may surpass OpenAI as investor interest heats up sharply
SAN FRANCISCO: Anthropic is exploring a fresh funding round that could value the company at more than $900 billion, potentially making it the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence startup, according to Bloomberg reports.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that the Claude maker is in early-stage discussions with investors and is entertaining offers at more than double its current valuation. No deal has been finalised yet.
The interest marks a sharp jump from February this year, when Anthropic raised $30 billion at a valuation of $380 billion. Since then, investor appetite appears to have intensified, with multiple pre-emptive offers on the table.
According to TechCrunch, the company has received proposals to raise around $50 billion at valuations ranging between $850 billion and $900 billion. A decision is expected to be taken at a board meeting in May.
If the deal goes through at the upper end of that range, Anthropic would overtake OpenAI, which was valued at $852 billion in March, to become the most valuable AI startup globally.
The potential fundraise also comes against the backdrop of a possible initial public offering, which could be launched as early as October, the Bloomberg report noted.
The company counts tech heavyweights such as Amazon and Google, part of Alphabet, among its key backers. Both firms have continued to deepen their ties with Anthropic through multi-billion-dollar, performance-linked investments.
Interestingly, earlier reports had suggested that Anthropic was cautious about raising funds at valuations of $800 billion or more. The latest developments, however, indicate that market enthusiasm for advanced AI models and infrastructure may be shifting those thresholds quickly.
As the race for AI dominance accelerates, Anthropic’s next move could set a new benchmark for startup valuations, and signal just how high investors are willing to bet on the future of artificial intelligence.
