Anthropic Weighs IPO to Raise More Than $100 Billion at Up to $2 Trillion Valuation

Anthropic, an artificial intelligence model developer, is pursuing a blockbuster initial public offering that could raise more than $100 billion. The company is being discussed at a valuation of as much as $2 trillion, putting it in position to surpass the IPO record set by SpaceX in June.

The New York Times reported on Aug. 21, citing people familiar with the matter, that Anthropic’s IPO underwriters have recently discussed with potential investors a plan to raise more than $100 billion through the offering. In those talks, the company’s valuation has been floated at as high as $2 trillion.

The current IPO record is held by SpaceX, which listed in June. SpaceX raised $85.7 billion at a valuation of $1.77 trillion. If Anthropic proceeds as outlined, it could set new records for both valuation and proceeds.

Anthropic’s valuation has risen sharply in recent months. The company was valued at $900 billion in a private fundraising round earlier this year. The increase has been fueled by explosive revenue growth. Its annualized revenue, based on monthly sales in July, reportedly exceeded $65 billion.

That compares with $9 billion at the end of last year, meaning the figure expanded more than sevenfold in just seven months. Actual second-quarter revenue is also reported to have reached $11.6 billion.

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executive Dario Amodei, Anthropic has grown into the world’s leading AI model company within three years of releasing its first model, Claude 1. About half of its revenue comes from the Claude API, which startups and developers use to access its models. Growth has been supported by a usage-based billing structure tied to rising token consumption.

That revenue also includes sales through cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Google Vertex. More recently, Anthropic has increased enterprise contracts with large corporations and software companies including JPMorgan, Netflix and Salesforce. Those agreements commit customers to usage levels, giving Anthropic what is viewed as a more stable revenue base than OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, which has focused more heavily on individual users.

OpenAI’s decision to drop IPO plans this year has also benefited Anthropic. The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI’s operating loss, including stock-based compensation, widened to $12.3 billion in the second quarter from $9.3 billion in the first quarter. Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar said on Aug. 20 that “we just need to run our own race,” but the company’s financial performance is seen as having weighed on its listing prospects.

Kang Kyung-joo, Hankyung.com reporter qurasoha@hankyung.com