Anthropic aims to break SpaceX's record IPO
What's the story
Anthropic, the artificial intelligence (AI) company behind Claude, is gearing up for a potential initial public offering (IPO). The move could match or even eclipse SpaceX's record-breaking IPO, in which the company raised a historic $85.7 billion. According to Bloomberg, Anthropic has already filed confidentially for a US listing and is preparing for what could be one of the largest public debuts in history.
Revenue forecast
Anthropic's projected revenue growth fuels valuation surge
Anthropic is projecting a revenue of $190 billion to $200 billion by 2028, according to Reuters.
This forecast is well above the company's current annualized revenue run rate of $65 billion.
The aggressive growth expectations are shaping the company's valuation as bankers and investors look beyond its present financial performance to determine how big its business could be in two years.
Growth pattern
Future-focused valuation reflects AI firm's rapid growth
Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate has increased more than tenfold every year for the last three years, up until early 2026. This rapid expansion is central to the company's IPO case.
The approach of valuing a company based on future projections rather than current earnings is less common but reflects both its growth speed and the difficulty of predicting future economics for an AI business that spends heavily on computing power, model training, and hiring.
Valuation comparisons
Comparisons with other companies and main investor concerns
Investors are looking at companies like SpaceX, Palantir, and Cloudflare to gage Anthropic's valuation.
These companies offer different comparisons for investors. However, applying a revenue multiple to Anthropic's long-term projections shows why its potential valuation could reach extraordinary levels.
Despite the aggressive forecasts, the main question for investors remains whether Anthropic can turn its extraordinary revenue growth into sustainable profits amid high costs of developing advanced AI models.
Market strategy
Potential share structure changes in the IPO process
Anthropic is also ahead of rival OpenAI in the race to public markets. The company filed for an IPO in June, while OpenAI is eyeing a listing in 2027.
Ahead of the listing, Anthropic is considering a share structure that would give more voting power to CEO Dario Amodei and other co-founders.
This move would allow them to retain greater control after the company goes public.