Anthropic confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC on Monday, setting up what could be the largest tech IPO since the dot-com era. The Claude AI maker, recently valued at $965 billion, now surpasses rival OpenAI â and retail investors are about to get their first look at the financials.
Anthropic, the company behind the popular Claude AI assistant, confidentially filed plans for an initial public offering with the SEC on Monday, setting up one of the most anticipated market debuts in years.
The filing comes just months after the company raised $65 billion in private funding, pushing its valuation to $965 billion â surpassing rival OpenAI's $852 billion valuation and making it one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
Anthropic is one of three highly anticipated AI IPOs expected in 2026, alongside OpenAI and SpaceX. Combined, these three filings represent what PitchBook senior analyst Harrison Rolfes calls "the largest concentration of pre-IPO capital ever brought to market simultaneously."
SpaceX submitted a public S-1 on May 20 and is targeting a June 12 Nasdaq listing. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will go public "when we think it makes sense," denying there's a race among AI companies to IPO first.
But the timing is hard to ignore. Two potentially trillion-dollar filings in under two weeks signals a massive shift in how Wall Street views AI companies.
An IPO would provide the first concrete window into Anthropic's financial data â and that's significant. Concerns about an AI funding bubble have simmered over the past year, with critics questioning whether the massive capital flowing into AI is outpacing real-world demand.
"The 2026 window either becomes the most consequential IPO cycle since the dot-com era or the most expensive lesson in narrative-versus-fundamentals that public markets have ever taught."
â Harrison Rolfes, Senior Analyst at PitchBook
Investors will get a much deeper look at which products are generating the most revenue through quarterly earnings reports once Anthropic goes public.
Anthropic was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, who left OpenAI citing concerns about the company's direction. The company positioned itself as the "safe AI" alternative, prioritizing safety research alongside product development.
Key milestones on the way to the IPO:
While ChatGPT remains far more popular with the general public â 36.6% of US internet users are expected to use ChatGPT this year compared to 5.4% for Claude â Anthropic has carved out a powerful niche. Its Claude Code tool became an early favorite among software developers, and the company has since introduced tools targeting financial services and other industries.
Claude rose to the top of the Apple App Store earlier this year and remains the second most popular AI app, trailing only ChatGPT.
Anthropic's rapid growth hasn't come without friction. Earlier this year, the company was caught in a feud with the White House and the Defense Department over the use of its technology. The Pentagon declared Anthropic a "supply chain risk" and essentially blacklisted it after the company refused to remove contractual restrictions prohibiting use of its AI for domestic weapons systems.
There's also fresh competition. Both OpenAI and Google have updated their own coding tools, and ChatGPT's massive consumer adoption lead won't be easy to close.
The SEC will review Anthropic's confidential filing before a public S-1 is released. Once that happens, the company will begin its roadshow â pitching the stock to institutional investors. If all goes smoothly, shares could begin trading on a major exchange later this year.
One thing is certain: the 2026 IPO market is shaping up to be the most exciting since the late 1990s, and Anthropic is at the center of it.
Technologia Buddy