One of the world’s hottest AI startups, Anthropic, stunned global technology markets with its latest AI launch, triggering sharp sell-offs across US, European and Indian tech stocks on February 4. In a single trading session, nearly $285 Bn was wiped off from the combined market capitalisation of software, legal tech, enterprise SaaS and financial services companies. To put that in perspective, the figure is roughly equivalent to the entire estimated revenue of India’s IT industry in FY2025, estimated at $283 Bn. This underscores the sheer scale of the market reaction. What Did Anthropic Launch And Why Did It Spook Markets? Claude-maker Anthropic introduced 11 plugins to its AI tool called Claude Cowork on January 30 to help automate business tasks. Claude Cowork is an AI assistant that moves beyond chat and autonomously executes multi-step workplace tasks directly on user’s computer. One of the newly introduced plugins focused on legal work caused a major stir in particular. These automations are said to directly impact areas that form a critical revenue backbone for both global SaaS and Indian IT services companies. Markets quickly interpreted this as a structural inflexion point, not just another incremental AI upgrade. The ‘SaaSPocalypse’: Ground Zero Of Panic… Read MoreInc42 Media
