Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude model family, is weighing a set of unusual controls for its anticipated IPO: letting some existing shareholders sell on day one while simultaneously extending the lockup period well beyond industry norms. The goal is straightforward. Keep the stock from whipsawing in its first weeks of trading.
The company confidentially filed its S-1 with the SEC on June 1, 2026, and a public version of that filing is expected by late August. The IPO itself is projected for October 2026, with estimates suggesting it could raise upwards of $60B and value Anthropic somewhere between $1 trillion and $2 trillion.
A trillion-dollar balancing act
For context, Anthropic completed a $65B Series H funding round in May 2026, which pushed its private valuation to roughly $965B. Q2 2026 revenues reportedly exceeded $11.5B, implying an annualized run rate of around $65B.
Standard IPO lockup periods typically run 90 to 180 days. Anthropic is reportedly considering pushing beyond that standard range, though the exact duration will be spelled out in the S-1 filing.
