Daily AI brief · May 15, 2026
Anthropic Eyes $900B Valuation as Claude Hits $30B ARR
Anthropic is closing in on a near-trillion-dollar valuation, ChatGPT is now live inside Excel and Google Sheets, Microsoft's M365 E7 suite and Agent 365 are GA, and Proofpoint just launched a dedicated MSP security platform — here's what to act on today.
1. Anthropic Closes In on a $900 Billion Valuation — Bloomberg / TechCrunch
Anthropic is in early talks with investors to raise at least $30 billion in fresh financing at a valuation of more than $900 billion.
The fuel behind the number is real:
the company's annualized revenue run rate reached approximately $30 billion by the end of March 2026.
Enterprise customers now represent approximately 80% of Anthropic's revenue, with more than 1,000 businesses spending over $1 million annually on its services.
What it means for SMBs / MSPs: Anthropic's enterprise focus and war chest signal long-term Claude API stability — but near-trillion-dollar burn rates eventually get passed to customers, so lock in annual contracts before any pricing resets.
2. ChatGPT Is Now Live Inside Excel and Google Sheets — OpenAI
ChatGPT for Excel and Google Sheets are now generally available across all plans — powered by GPT-5.5.
It's a spreadsheet-native AI experience that lives in a sidebar, helping you build, update, and explain spreadsheets directly, including large, multi-tab files with formulas, references, and assumptions.
Business, Enterprise, Edu, and K-12 customers have a free preview through June 2, 2026
— after that, usage draws from plan credits.
What it means for SMBs / MSPs: This is the highest-surface-area AI feature OpenAI has ever shipped. Every client who lives in spreadsheets now has a zero-friction entry point — no new tool, no new login.
3. Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365 Are Generally Available — Microsoft
Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 E7: The Frontier Suite, now generally available. It brings together Microsoft 365 E5 for secure productivity, Entra Suite for identity and access control, Microsoft 365 Copilot for AI in the flow of work, and Agent 365 as the control plane to govern and scale agents.
For MSPs:
a new three-year purchasing option for Microsoft 365 Copilot is now available in CSP, bringing it in line with existing M365 E3 and E5 three-year SKUs and helping partners support customers pursuing long-term AI transformation.
What it means for SMBs / MSPs: Agent 365 is the governance layer your mid-market clients will need before they can safely scale Copilot Studio agents — this is your new anchor product for Q3 conversations.
4. Proofpoint Launches Dedicated MSP Platform with AI-Powered M365 Security — Globe Newswire
Proofpoint announced the formation of Proofpoint MSP Platform — a dedicated business unit serving MSPs and SMBs — and launched 365 Total Protection, which unifies email security, phishing and ransomware defense, backup, compliance, security awareness training, and AI cyber assistance in a single multitenant solution.
A strategic Pax8 Marketplace partnership and new U.S.-based data centers strengthen Proofpoint's North American MSP ecosystem with simplified deployment, data sovereignty, and enterprise-grade protection.
What it means for SMBs / MSPs: A single-SKU M365 security stack, now available through Pax8, removes the "too many vendors" objection when pitching AI-era email and compliance protection to SMB clients.
5. Copilot Studio Gets GPT-5.5 Reasoning + Agent Governance Upgrades — Microsoft
GPT-5.5 Thinking is now available in Copilot Studio early release cycle environments as GPT-5.5 Reasoning, further expanding model choice with more advanced analysis capabilities.
Separately,
by forecasting Copilot credit consumption across both Copilot Studio and Dynamics 365 scenarios in one place, you can model usage more accurately and scale deployments — helping avoid unexpected cost surprises.
What it means for SMBs / MSPs: The credit forecasting tool is the practical win here — bring it to every Copilot Studio deployment conversation to eliminate sticker-shock renewals.
ChatGPT for Excel (or Google Sheets)
It's a spreadsheet-native AI sidebar that builds, updates, and explains spreadsheets directly — including large multi-tab files with formulas, references, and assumptions.
Before making changes to a workbook, ChatGPT asks for permission, so users can review each step and undo edits if needed.
- Who it's for: Any SMB owner, ops manager, or client-side finance contact who runs their business in Excel or Google Sheets
- How long a first test takes: 20 minutes — open an existing budget or report, ask it to explain the key formulas, then ask it to add a summary tab
- First step:
Open Microsoft Excel (desktop or browser), go to the Home tab, click Add-ins, search for "ChatGPT" in the Office Add-ins store, click Add, then open ChatGPT from the ribbon and sign in with your OpenAI account.
For Google Sheets, install the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Business/Enterprise admins may need to enable it first in Workspace settings.
If you're on Business Premium, ask your IT provider about the 50% Purview Suite offer before July 1. Purview is Microsoft's data security layer. If you're weighing Copilot, get your data protections in place first, and the discount through July 1 makes this a good week to ask. While you're at it, ask whether the new 3-year Copilot term lines up with your current renewal.
*For MSPs:* Clients weighing Copilot are a natural fit for pairing the discounted Purview Suite with a governed Copilot rollout.
Don't treat Anthropic's $900B valuation as a signal that Claude is "enterprise-safe forever." Valuations at this scale increase IPO pressure, and
the capital push comes as Anthropic explores a potential initial public offering as early as October.
Public company pricing dynamics are very different from startup growth-mode pricing. If Claude is in your stack or your clients', review contract terms now — not after the S-1 drops.
AI agents are outgrowing the tools that govern them — and the infrastructure gap is becoming a business risk.
Microsoft Agent 365 provides a unified control plane for agents, enabling IT, security, and business teams to observe, govern, and secure agents across the organization
— and it's not alone.
Field Effect's AI Detect and Response product, launching late May, is a multi-phase release aimed at giving businesses visibility into what AI applications are running on their networks and what data is leaving.
The pattern: every major platform vendor is now shipping a *governance layer* on top of their AI features, not just the AI features themselves. For MSPs, this is the signal — the next wave of billable services isn't deployment, it's AI observability, audit trails, and agent policy management. Clients who deployed Copilot or similar tools in 2025 without governance frameworks are now exposed. That gap is your next service line.