A busy week once you look past the megafunding headlines — vertical AI, agents, and creative tools all moved.
OpenEvidence hits a $12B valuation
On January 21, medical AI copilot OpenEvidence ("ChatGPT for doctors") raised a $250M Series D, doubling its valuation to $12B (Thrive Capital, DST Global). It's reportedly used by ~40% of US physicians — a reminder that some of the biggest agent value is deeply vertical.
Harvey's first acquisition
Also January 23, legal-AI leader Harvey acqui-hired Hexus (an AI product-demo/video startup) — its first acquisition, as the well-funded vertical leaders start buying their way into adjacent capabilities.
Krea brings real-time editing
On January 20, Krea shipped Realtime Edit — paint or stream your webcam/screen and watch the AI edit live — alongside its open-weights Krea Realtime 14B real-time video model. Creative tools are collapsing the loop between prompt and result.
Claude Cowork opens to teams
And around January 23, Anthropic expanded Claude Cowork — its desktop "computer agent" for knowledge work — from Max/Pro to Team and Enterprise plans (its full enterprise launch with connectors lands in late February).
What it means if you're picking tools
Vertical AI, research assistants, and creative tools all advanced. See research, image generation, and automation.
Sources: OpenEvidence $12B (CNBC) · Harvey acquires Hexus (TechCrunch) · Krea release notes · Claude Cowork (Fortune)