Anthropic kicks off its IPO process
Claude creator Anthropic is the latest tech megacap to pursue a listing just days after a raise set its value at $965 billion.
Anthropic submitted a draft registration statement to the US regulator on 1 June for its imminent initial public offering (IPO), the second US technology company to do so in recent weeks.
Slipstreaming SpaceX (whose own IPO is expected later this month), the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) company behind the Claude series of large language models (LLMs) said the amount it was targeting – determined by the number of shares to be issued and their price – had not yet been set.
An unattributed statement on its website said: “Today, Anthropic, PBC confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of our common stock. This gives us the option to go public after the SEC completes its review. The proposed initial public offering will depend on market conditions and other factors.”
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The company has appointed Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to lead its listing process, according to Bloomberg, which said J.P. Morgan was also involved.
The flotation is expected to take place as soon as October, although many details are still speculative.
Which fund managers have invested in Anthropic?
Just days before it confirmed submitting its paperwork to the SEC, Anthropic announced it raised $65 billion in a series H round, led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer, Greenoaks and Sequoia Capital, bringing the company’s estimated valuation to $965 billion.
Brad Gerstner, founder and chief executive of Altimeter Capital said: “Claude’s latest advancements have driven large-scale adoption among the world’s most demanding organisations. This momentum positions Anthropic to lead the next phase of AI innovation and capture the enormous opportunity ahead.”
Co-leading the round were Capital Group, Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, GIC, ICONIQ and XN. Other “significant investors” named included Baillie Gifford, Blackstone and T. Rowe Price.
The raise also includes $15 billion of previously committed investments from hyperscalers, including $5 billion from Amazon.
What is the easiest way for UK retail investors to hold Anthropic?
Several investment trusts hold Anthropic, allowing investors exposure to the stock without them having to get involved in the often onerous and volatile IPO process.
Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), said as it’s easier for investment trusts to hold privately held companies, these are a sensible option for DIY investors.
Five investment trusts have exposure to Anthropic, which she said “provide retail investors with a way of getting exposure before the crowds pile in when the company is listed on the stock market”.
Investment trust | Anthropic holding as % of assets |
|---|---|
Baillie Gifford US Growth | 7.5 |
Schiehallion Fund | 7.3 |
Scottish Mortgage | 2.6 |
RIT Capital Partners | 0.2 |
Pantheon International | 0.1 |
Source: AIC / Morningstar and investment trust managers (as at 02/06/2026 based on latest available published portfolio weights).
What are Anthropic’s growth plans?
The fundraising announcement also detailed recent expansion of its compute capacity, including signed agreements with Amazon, Google, Broadcom and SpaceX. It said Claude was the first frontier model available on the three largest cloud platforms, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, with AWS its main cloud provider and training partner.
Alfred Lin, partner at Sequoia Capital said: “Startups and Global 5000 companies alike are deploying Claude to handle complex workflows, and in doing so, Claude is learning how businesses actually operate: the context, the processes, the judgement. Anthropic is building the bridge between where enterprise AI stands today and where it’s headed.”
Since its series G round in February, the company said adoption has grown across global enterprise customers and its run-rate revenue (a company’s estimated annual revenue based on a multiplier of a short-term, indicative period) crossed $47 billion.
As a public benefit corporation (PBC) Anthropic is a for-profit company that prioritises its purpose of “the responsible development and maintenance of advanced AI for the long-term benefit of humanity”.
While not yet confirmed, as a high-profile tech company, the stock is expected to list on the Nasdaq exchange. These recent announcements suggest it has now overtaken its rival OpenAI in the race to go public, allowing it to exploit surging investor demand for all things AI.
Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX are being touted as the three landmark listings set to take place in 2026 that are changing the playbook for IPOs, including how index providers are facilitating their inclusion in benchmark indices.
