Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI model, today took one of the most important steps in its history. The company has confidentially filed IPO documentation and is now officially preparing to go public. At a time when OpenAI and SpaceX are going public at the same time, this could be the start of the biggest tech IPO wave since the dot-com era.
Confidential IPO filing
Anthropic announced that it has made a confidential filing of a draft registration form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC). This process allows the company to pass the first round of regulatory approval without disclosing detailed financial information. Neither the number of shares being offered nor the price range have yet been disclosed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a public offering could take place as early as the fall of 2026, market conditions permitting.The firm has experienced extreme growth in value and revenue over the past few months, and investors are beginning to demand the ability to participate in that growth through the public market.
Valuation close to $1 trillion
Until a few years ago, Anthropic was considered a smaller competitor to OpenAI. Today, however, things are different.
In late May, the company closed a $65 billion investment round that valued it at approximately $965 billion. This even surpassed OpenAI's last known valuation of $852 billion.
If the valuation at IPO had stayed near those levels, Anthropic would have immediately ranked among the world's most valuable technology companies.
Also important for investors is the pace of growth. The company was still valued at around $380 billion at the start of the year. But within a few months, its value had risen by hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Claude model as a core product
The sharp rise in valuation is mainly due to the success of Claude models and tools aimed at corporate clients.
Anthropic exceeded an annual revenue run-rate of over $47 billion. A significant portion of this growth is generated by enterprise customers using Claude Code and other AI tools for programming and workflow automation.
It is the enterprise segment that is proving to be one of the most profitable areas of contemporary generative AI. Unlike chatbots, which target the general public, here companies are paying large sums for long-term contracts and integrating AI into their own systems. This creates a much more stable and predictable source of revenue.
The biggest rival is a close second to Anthropic
Anthropic's stock market entry comes at a time when OpenAI is preparing a similar move.
Sam Altman's company is working on its own confidential IPO filing. Some sources report that the process has already begun, while others speak of final preparations in the coming weeks.
OpenAI is targeting a valuation between $850 billion and $1 trillion. If it succeeds, it will be one of the largest IPOs in the history of the technology sector, similar to that of its biggest rival.
The battle for AI dominance
OpenAI still possesses the strongest brand among ordinary users thanks to ChatGPT. Anthropic, on the other hand, is gaining share in enterprise AI and programming tools.
Some analysts point out that it is the quality of enterprise revenue that may be more important than popularity among consumers in the future. Moreover, Anthropic is showing faster revenue growth relative to its valuation, according to some investors.
Hidden winners of the AI boom
The company's largest shareholders also include Amazon $AMZN and Alphabet $GOOG.
Amazon has already invested billions of dollars in Anthropic and the total commitment could reach up to $25 billion. For Amazon, Anthropic is strategically important mainly because of the AWS platform. Indeed, Claude represents one of the main AI services available to customers of Amazon's cloud division.
Similarly, Alphabet gains significant exposure to the fast-growing AI market through Anthropic without having to rely solely on Gemini's own models.
A year of record IPOs
Anthropic isn't the only company preparing to go public. In addition to OpenAI, SpaceX's IPO is also expected. Some estimates speak of a valuation between $1.75 and $2 trillion.
If all the companies go public later this year, it will be a test of whether the public markets are willing to accept valuations approaching $1 trillion for companies that are still investing heavily in infrastructure growth and, in many cases, reporting billions of dollars in losses.
A strategic view
Anthropic has managed to build a product that has become a relevant alternative to ChatGPT in just a few years, while gaining a strong position among enterprise customers.
For investors, there are three areas in particular that are important to watch:
The company's revenue growth rate
The cost of computing infrastructure and AI training
Competition from OpenAI, Google in the form of Gemini and other players
The big question is whether current valuations reflect realistic future potential or whether the market is starting to create a new technology bubble similar to the period around 2000.