Anthropic confirmed Monday it has confidentially submitted draft paperwork for a public listing, joining rivals OpenAI and SpaceX in a sprint toward public market debuts expected as early as this fall. The number of shares and the offering price have not yet been set. Here is what the filing signals about the AI IPO race and why getting to market first could matter significantly for Anthropic.
The confidential filing comes weeks after Anthropic raised $65 billion at a $965 billion valuation, eclipsing OpenAI’s valuation for the first time. The company has seen a surge in enterprise demand as customers adopt its tools for coding, cybersecurity, and task automation. Revenue run rate hit $47 billion earlier this month, up from $9 billion last year. The growth trajectory gives Anthropic a compelling story to take to public market investors.
OpenAI is also preparing a confidential IPO filing and is targeting a public debut in the fall. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley are expected to be under consideration for lead roles on both offerings. The two companies have been trading product launches in recent months, with each trying to establish a model and revenue supremacy ahead of their respective listings.
Being first to market carries real advantages. An early listing captures investor attention before the pool is divided, sets a valuation benchmark that a later competitor must beat or justify, and gives employees and early backers a liquidity event ahead of potential market saturation from multiple high-profile AI offerings arriving in close succession.
Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, Anthropic has grown into one of the most closely watched companies in artificial intelligence, with Amazon among its largest backers through prior hyperscaler commitments included in the recent funding round.
