Anthropic is preparing an initial public offering that could match or exceed the $86.2 billion SpaceX raised in 2024, a figure that would make it the largest first-time share sale on record. The company is finalizing the numbers and plans to file publicly as soon as the end of August, according to people familiar with the matter. If the deal lands at that scale, it would single-handedly push 2026 U.S. IPO volume past the $195.2 billion record set in 2021; year-to-date issuance stood at $160.6 billion through August 19.
Confidential filing already submitted
Anthropic submitted a draft registration statement to the SEC on June 1, giving it the option to launch once the review concludes. The company said at the time that any offering would depend on market conditions and other factors. Discussions on size and structure remain fluid, and the final terms could shift before the public filing.
Valuation leap from $380 billion to $965 billion
The AI startup’s last private round closed in May at a $965 billion post-money valuation after a $65 billion Series H. Three months earlier, a Series G had priced the company at $380 billion following a $30 billion raise. The step-up implies investors assigned a 154 percent premium in a single quarter, a pace that reflects the scarcity of pure-play large-language-model exposure in public markets.
Revenue growth cited at 14-fold
Anthropic told prospective investors that second-quarter revenue exceeded $11.5 billion, up from $787 million in the same period a year earlier, a more than 14-fold increase. The figure is preliminary and unaudited. The company did not respond to a request for comment on the IPO timeline or the revenue disclosure.
California VC concentration sharpens
California startups have attracted roughly $366 billion in venture capital this year, nearly double the state’s prior annual record. Anthropic and OpenAI together account for half that total, an amount that exceeds the combined venture funding flowing to the other 49 states by more than three times. The concentration underscores how the IPO pipeline has become a referendum on a handful of AI names.