Anthropic Investors Expect $2 Trillion IPO Valuation

Investors in Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup behind the Claude models, expect the company to pursue an initial public offering in October at a valuation of $2 trillion or more, a figure that would surpass SpaceX’s recent debut and mark the largest IPO in history. According to multiple backers who spoke to the Financial Times, the company’s rapidly rising revenue could support more than doubling its current valuation in a planned autumn listing. Such a move would deliver substantial gains to early investors but would also test public markets that are growing more cautious about the sustainability of high AI valuations.

The core argument for the lofty valuation is Anthropic’s explosive revenue growth. Investors anticipate the company’s annualized revenue will reach between $100 billion and $120 billion by the end of 2026, based on its preferred run-rate measure that extrapolates recent performance. This would represent more than a tenfold increase over the course of the year. Anthropic announced in May that its annualized revenue had surpassed $47 billion. One investor suggested that even a conservative valuation multiple of 30 times revenue, low for a company...