Anthropic seeks $1.3tn valuation in IPO that could raise $61bn
Anthropic is chasing a valuation of about $1.3 trillion in its initial public offering, a regulatory filing on Tuesday showed, as the Claude developer moves to list ahead of rival OpenAI. The San Francisco company plans to sell 825 million shares priced between $70 and $78 each, a range that would let it raise more than $61 billion if the IPO prices at the midpoint.
The shares are expected to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker "ANT". The company is anticipated to make its Wall Street debut this month. A regulatory filing last month showed revenue topped $16 billion in the first half of the year, 14 times the same period a year earlier, though the company has yet to turn a profit.
"For tech and AI, this is the first time a U.S. frontier lab carries a standalone public market price, uncluttered by an ad business or a rocket business," Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives & Co., wrote in an analyst note. The listing could hand Anthropic resources to accelerate expansion and add billions to the fortunes of chief executive Dario Amodei and co-founder Daniela Amodei.
The offering lands amid turbulence for AI stocks. A sell-off late last week, led by companies tied to the buildout of AI data centres, pressed markets worldwide on worries that construction may slow as borrowing costs rise, and critics argue a bubble is forming. Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX's AI division have all been spending more than they earn on the resources needed to build AI.
Anthropic, formed in 2021 by former OpenAI leaders, could rank among the largest IPOs ever but now looks set to fall short of the record $86 billion raised by SpaceX in June. Dario Amodei warned in September that the industry should slow its fast-moving development so safety measures can catch up, saying that without such a pause AI could unleash a swarm of agents able to take over the internet within six to 12 months.
