Anthropic

In August, several non-public meetings took place in San Francisco. Facing him were bankers, investors, and other individuals whose questions were raised one after another: Open-source models are constantly pushing down prices, how long can your gross margins last? If the construction of data centers slows down, what will the revenue curve look like? Krishna Rao, CFO of Anthropic, answered in great detail, but the only question he did not answer was: How much is the company actually worth? The real signal emerged on August 20. According to people familiar with the matter, the scale of Anthropic's offering this time will be as large as or even larger than that of SpaceX.

According to reports from the New York Times, Anthropic indicated in initial discussions with potential investors that the company could potentially raise more than 100 billion US dollars through the IPO, with a valuation of up to 2 trillion US dollars. The news states that the company will publish the prospectus by the end of August at the latest. Actions were already taken in June: The company filed the IPO application form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in June, and the listing could take place as early as October. The company was founded in January 2021, just five years ago.

In January 2021, Dario Amodei left OpenAI. His collaborators also included his sister Daniela and more than a dozen leading researchers. The reason for the separation was that they were dissatisfied with OpenAI's overly aggressive commercialization strategy and feared that capabilities were developing too quickly and safety could not keep pace. Dario is not like a typical Silicon Valley CEO. He studied physics and biology, and his habit of leading the company is that of a researcher. He says he spends half or even two-thirds of his time ensuring that the company culture does not change and that employees can speak openly.

Google invested 300 million US dollars in 2022 and later increased its investments multiple times, totaling about 3 billion US dollars. The real acceleration began earlier this year: After the completion of a funding round in September 2025, the valuation reached 183 billion US dollars; earlier this year, this figure rose to about 350 billion US dollars; and after the completion of the H-round financing on May 28, the post-money valuation even reached 965 billion US dollars. Previously, part of the 15 billion US dollars pledged by Nvidia and Microsoft flowed in this way, in return, Anthropic committed to procuring about 300 billion US dollars in computing power from Microsoft.

The IPO proceeded faster than the financing: In June, the IPO application was confidentially filed, in July, investment bankers began arranging meetings between the management team and investors, in August, roadshows took place in San Francisco and other locations, at the end of August, the documents were officially submitted to the SEC, and in October, the IPO took place. In between, there is a still-negotiated revolving credit facility, the scope of which is far greater than the originally planned 100 billion US dollars. Anthropic is considering introducing shares with superior voting rights, so that Dario and some co-founders retain control over the company even after the IPO.

This is not a new concept, but it is different with this company. Dario himself holds about 2% of the company's shares, which, with a market capitalization of 2 trillion US dollars, corresponds to 400 billion US dollars; measured by share, he is no longer the owner of the company, only a special voting right allows him to remain in charge. 7 billion US dollars. 9 billion US dollars. There are further data that prove the significance of this matter. In economic history, there are no more than a dozen companies that have ever reached the 2 trillion US dollar mark, and Anthropic will belong to the top league after the IPO.

Dario once said in an interview that the company he leads has about 2500 employees. 5 billion US dollars, while the figure for the same period last year was 787 million US dollars. The curve of the annualized revenue run rate is very steep. At the beginning of 2026, it was about 14 billion US dollars, in May it reached 47 billion US dollars, and by the end of July, it exceeded 65 billion US dollars. Besides growth, there is another important thing: The adjusted operating profit in the second quarter has turned positive, with the market's widely circulated estimate being 559 million US dollars.

For a company that continues to invest in cutting-edge models, the turning point came much earlier than expected. Where the money comes from can also be clearly explained. The growth engine has changed once in the last 18 months: from subscription-based products for consumers to products for high-value scenarios such as enterprises and developers. More than 300,000 companies use Claude, with business customer revenue accounting for almost 80%. The number of large customers with an annual payment of over one million US dollars reached more than 1000 at the beginning of the year, and 8 of the top 10 wealth management companies are its clients.

In the second quarter of this year, Anthropic's market share in the large enterprise model API market reached 32%, while OpenAI's was about 25%. Therefore, the 2 trillion US dollar valuation on paper is not absurd. The problem lies in another accounting work. 3 billion US dollars in the previous year, which is more than five times. The place where the money is being burned is easy to find: It is a computing power contract with SpaceX, the scope of which will reach several hundred billion US dollars in three years.