Anthropic, the AI startup behind the Claude assistant, is reportedly in early talks about staging what could become one of the largest initial public offerings in history as soon as next year, according to the Financial Times.
The company has brought on Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to advise on the potential IPO. The law firm has a track record with major tech listings from Google to LinkedIn and Lyft, the FT noted, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, Anthropic is exploring private fundraising that could value the company at more than $300 billion, including a combined $15 billion commitment from Microsoft and Nvidia, per the report. The FT also said the startup has discussed an IPO with large investment banks, though those discussions remain preliminary and informal.
If accurate, the development would put Anthropic in a race to go public with OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, which is also said to be laying groundwork for a possible listing. The prospect of multiple AI-focused IPOs would test investors’ appetite for startups that are still unprofitable amid wider concerns about an AI market bubble.
Anthropic declined to comment beyond a spokesman telling the FT that it’s standard for companies of its scale and revenue to operate as if they are already public, but that no timing or decision about an IPO has been made. CNBC reached out to neither Anthropic nor Wilson Sonsini for comment.
One FT source indicated that Anthropic has been quietly preparing for a potential listing, though specifics were not provided.
The FT report follows a series of notable moves at Anthropic, including the hire of Krishna Rao, a former Airbnb executive who helped drive the company’s IPO-related experiences in the past.
Earlier reports from CNBC last month put Anthropic’s valuation in the vicinity of $350 billion after Microsoft contributed up to $5 billion and Nvidia up to $10 billion in funding. The company has also been expanding rapidly, announcing a $50 billion push to build out AI infrastructure with new data centers in Texas and New York and a tripling of its international workforce.
Investors cited by the FT appeared optimistic about a potential IPO, suggesting it could allow Anthropic to gain a strategic edge over OpenAI.
OpenAI, meanwhile, has been rumored to be weighing an IPO, but its chief financial officer recently indicated no near-term listing is planned, even as the company completed a $6.6 billion share sale at a roughly $500 billion valuation in October.
