Anthropic files confidential draft for IPO: What it means for Indian investors
US-based AI giant Anthropic has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, moving ahead of rival OpenAI in a closely watched race to the public markets.
- Jun 2, 2026,
- Updated Jun 2, 2026 2:55 PM IST
US-based AI giant Anthropic has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, moving ahead of rival OpenAI in a closely watched race to the public markets. The filing sets up an early test of whether strong investor appetite for artificial intelligence, which has driven lofty private valuations and talk of potential trillion-dollar listings, will hold up under public scrutiny.
Anthropic, which makes the agentic coding assistant Claude Code, did not disclose the size or terms of the offering. The company last raised $65 billion in late May at a post-money valuation of $965 billion, putting it ahead of OpenAI. If it lists at close to $1 trillion, Anthropic would move into the top tier of the S&P 500 alongside a small group of companies that dominate global equity markets.
The proposed listing could become one of the most consequential stock market debuts in years, with the potential to influence benchmark indexes, investor flows and the broader narrative around US equities. Confidential submissions allow companies to move ahead with IPO preparations while keeping sensitive financial details from rivals and the public.
OpenAI was also preparing to confidentially file for a US IPO in the coming weeks, reported Reuters in May. Anthropic's move also comes after SpaceX's mega-IPO filing, which is on course to rewrite record books as Elon Musk's company pursues a $75 billion offering at a $1.75 trillion valuation and could begin trading within two weeks.
OpenAI and Anthropic have become central to the AI boom that has redrawn corporate strategies, intensified a global race for computing power and talent, and pushed AI-linked companies among the market's most richly valued firms.
On prediction markets, where traders bet on the outcome of future events, most participants had expected OpenAI to file before Anthropic. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in a CNBC interview, after news of Anthropic's confidential filing, that he is not focused on the timing of a potential IPO for the ChatGPT maker. He said the company would go public when it makes sense to do so.
Anthropic's valuation has more than doubled from $380 billion in February, when it raised $30 billion in a funding round. Its rapid rise in early 2026 unsettled markets and triggered sharp sell-offs in software and IT stocks as investors worried that its increasingly autonomous AI tools could disrupt traditional business models across industries. Its latest funding round drew backing from Blackstone, Brookfield, D1 Capital Partners, GIC, General Catalyst and Insight Partners.
The IPO market has also picked up in recent weeks, with companies raising $87.5 billion through May 26, the highest year-to-date global total since 2021, according to Dealogic. Several sizeable US IPOs are also due later this week, including Honeywell-backed quantum computing firm Quantinuum, Blackstone-backed Liftoff and gas engine manufacturer Innio.
"Anthropic filing IPO confidentially is a solid milestone not just for the company, but for how public markets are going to engage with frontier AI. The mega AI bets have been locked inside private rounds that only a handful of institutions could touch. A listing starts to open that up, said Viram Shah, Founder & CEO at Vested Finance.
"On the company itself, the numbers are hard to ignore. A revenue run-rate that's gone from roughly $10 billion to around $47 billion in a year is growth you almost never see at this scale. That's what's pushed it past OpenAI on valuation and put it at the front of an IPO queue that also includes OpenAI and SpaceX, arguably the most concentrated wave of mega-cap tech listings we have ever seen," he added.
The $965 billion figure is a private, post-money number from the last funding round and it's not a public market cap, and an IPO doesn't have to price there. For Indian investors, the real significance is access. Today most people here get AI exposure indirectly through Nvidia, Microsoft or Alphabet via the LRS route, Shah adds.
US-based AI giant Anthropic has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, moving ahead of rival OpenAI in a closely watched race to the public markets. The filing sets up an early test of whether strong investor appetite for artificial intelligence, which has driven lofty private valuations and talk of potential trillion-dollar listings, will hold up under public scrutiny.
Anthropic, which makes the agentic coding assistant Claude Code, did not disclose the size or terms of the offering. The company last raised $65 billion in late May at a post-money valuation of $965 billion, putting it ahead of OpenAI. If it lists at close to $1 trillion, Anthropic would move into the top tier of the S&P 500 alongside a small group of companies that dominate global equity markets.
The proposed listing could become one of the most consequential stock market debuts in years, with the potential to influence benchmark indexes, investor flows and the broader narrative around US equities. Confidential submissions allow companies to move ahead with IPO preparations while keeping sensitive financial details from rivals and the public.
OpenAI was also preparing to confidentially file for a US IPO in the coming weeks, reported Reuters in May. Anthropic's move also comes after SpaceX's mega-IPO filing, which is on course to rewrite record books as Elon Musk's company pursues a $75 billion offering at a $1.75 trillion valuation and could begin trading within two weeks.
OpenAI and Anthropic have become central to the AI boom that has redrawn corporate strategies, intensified a global race for computing power and talent, and pushed AI-linked companies among the market's most richly valued firms.
On prediction markets, where traders bet on the outcome of future events, most participants had expected OpenAI to file before Anthropic. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in a CNBC interview, after news of Anthropic's confidential filing, that he is not focused on the timing of a potential IPO for the ChatGPT maker. He said the company would go public when it makes sense to do so.
Anthropic's valuation has more than doubled from $380 billion in February, when it raised $30 billion in a funding round. Its rapid rise in early 2026 unsettled markets and triggered sharp sell-offs in software and IT stocks as investors worried that its increasingly autonomous AI tools could disrupt traditional business models across industries. Its latest funding round drew backing from Blackstone, Brookfield, D1 Capital Partners, GIC, General Catalyst and Insight Partners.
The IPO market has also picked up in recent weeks, with companies raising $87.5 billion through May 26, the highest year-to-date global total since 2021, according to Dealogic. Several sizeable US IPOs are also due later this week, including Honeywell-backed quantum computing firm Quantinuum, Blackstone-backed Liftoff and gas engine manufacturer Innio.
"Anthropic filing IPO confidentially is a solid milestone not just for the company, but for how public markets are going to engage with frontier AI. The mega AI bets have been locked inside private rounds that only a handful of institutions could touch. A listing starts to open that up, said Viram Shah, Founder & CEO at Vested Finance.
"On the company itself, the numbers are hard to ignore. A revenue run-rate that's gone from roughly $10 billion to around $47 billion in a year is growth you almost never see at this scale. That's what's pushed it past OpenAI on valuation and put it at the front of an IPO queue that also includes OpenAI and SpaceX, arguably the most concentrated wave of mega-cap tech listings we have ever seen," he added.
The $965 billion figure is a private, post-money number from the last funding round and it's not a public market cap, and an IPO doesn't have to price there. For Indian investors, the real significance is access. Today most people here get AI exposure indirectly through Nvidia, Microsoft or Alphabet via the LRS route, Shah adds.