The Zhitong Finance App learned that, according to people familiar with the matter, the initial public offering (IPO) of artificial intelligence (AI) startup Anthropic has been enthusiastically sought after by investors. Currently, the share subscription intentions received have reached several times the number of shares that can be issued, showing strong market demand for this Claude chatbot developer. As investors' enthusiasm for subscription continues to heat up, Anthropic's current listing is expected to become the largest IPO in global history.
People familiar with the matter said that the current subscription demand was mainly driven by the subscription intentions of large cornerstone investors. Since the relevant information has not been made public, people familiar with the matter requested anonymity. At the same time, the specific issuance terms of the IPO are still subject to change.
According to documents submitted by Anthropic, the company and its co-founders plan to raise up to $90.4 billion in total through IPOs and private placements. If completed according to plan, the total scale of the two parts of financing will surpass SpaceX's previous IPO, setting a new record for the scale of global corporate listing financing.
Anthropic's current listing is seeking a fully diluted valuation of around $1.4 trillion, which is lower than what some investors had previously anticipated. According to reports, when officially launching IPOs, some companies will adopt a relatively conservative pricing strategy, hoping to take advantage of strong market demand to raise the final issue price and create favorable conditions for stock price performance on the first day of listing.
To further attract investors, Anthropic is planning to launch a series of promotional activities for potential buyers. People familiar with the matter previously revealed that the company plans to hold a live broadcast event on Friday. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei will attend with J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon to introduce the company's business prospects and listing plans to investors.
Notably, Anthropic has yet to be officially listed, and the distribution rights of its IPO shares have begun to be chased by some investors.
According to reports, some investors who have already received IPO share allotment credits are transferring part of their subscription rights to other potential buyers in advance to collect additional fees while reducing market risk after the stock is officially listed and traded. Other investors who already held Anthropic shares prior to the IPO sold relevant rights to potential buyers through special purpose vehicles (SPVs).
These trading activities reflect strong market demand for Anthropic shares, and also indicate that some investors want to lock in profits or reduce risk before the official listing.
Anthropic is currently one of the most popular generative AI companies in the world. Its Claude series model and AI programming tool Claude Code have become important products for the company to expand the enterprise customer market. As the application of AI technology in software development and enterprise business processes continues to expand, investors are actively betting on Anthropic's future commercial growth potential.
However, the market's high demand for Anthropic has also made its valuation a focus of attention. For Anthropic, which is seeking a valuation of around $1.4 trillion, whether it can achieve future revenue growth that matches the valuation, and how to cope with the huge capital investment required for AI model training and computing power infrastructure, will be a matter of continuous concern for investors.
According to the listing documents, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley acted as lead underwriters for this IPO, and 20 other banks participated in the underwriting. Anthropic shares are expected to be traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “ANT.”
As of now, an Anthropic spokesperson has not immediately responded to a request for comment. As the issuance promotion continues to advance, the market will pay close attention to the final pricing, financing scale, and whether investors' subscription demand will further drive up the company's valuation.