AI + ML
First it tops OpenAI's valuation, then it beats Altman to the IPO punch
Anthropic has beaten OpenAI to the IPO punch, just days after its latest private funding round eclipsed its top rival’s valuation, setting up a showdown that could pump more air into - or finally pop - the AI bubble.Anthropic said Monday in a press release that it had filed a confidential S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, setting the stage for an eventual initial public offering of shares in the world’s (currently) most valuable AI startup. Given it’s a confidential filing, Anthropic shared little information and declined to answer questions on the matter.“The proposed initial public offering will depend on market conditions and other factors,” Anthropic said in the announcement. “The number of shares to be offered and the price have not yet been set.”
Those market conditions could look like anything by the time the SEC finishes reviewing the filing and it’s made available to the public for scrutiny, but the winds inflating the AI bubble are currently blowing in Anthropic’s favor.
The company reported last week that it completed a $65 billion series H funding round, pushing its post-money valuation to $965 billion, sending it rocketing past OpenAI’s most recently-reported valuation of $852 billion, which at the time was the highest-ever valuation of a pre-IPO tech company. With Anthropic now on the top of the heap, it’s a perfect time to file an IPO prospectus before Altman and company steal the lead back. That said, Anthropic has made some clever choices that have put it atop the heap for now.
