Investing

Anthropic IPO draws multiple times its share supply as demand surges: report

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaking in a room

Anthropic’s planned initial public offering has attracted orders worth several times the number of shares available, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, as investor interest builds ahead of what could become the largest stock market listing in history.

Demand has been driven by large indications of interest from prospective investors, according to the report.

The figures are not public, and the final terms of the offering could still change.

The Claude chatbot developer and its co-founders are seeking to raise as much as $90.4 billion through the IPO and a separate private placement, according to regulatory filings.

The combined transactions would exceed the $75 billion raised by SpaceX in June, potentially making Anthropic’s listing the biggest ever.

Anthropic IPO attracts strong investor demand

Anthropic is targeting a fully diluted valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion through the offering.

That figure is below the valuation some investors had expected, although companies sometimes set initial IPO terms conservatively to encourage demand and leave room for an increase in the final pricing.

Bloomberg reported that some existing investors are already offering portions of their IPO allocations to other prospective buyers.

Such arrangements could allow them to collect additional fees while reducing their exposure to potential trading volatility after the listing.

Other investors with pre-IPO stakes are marketing their holdings to buyers through special purpose vehicles.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the IPO, with 20 other banks participating, according to the filing.

Anthropic’s shares are expected to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol ANT.

The company is also organising events to attract prospective investors.

These include a livestreamed discussion on Friday featuring Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the report.

Revenue growth and computing commitments

Anthropic’s rapid revenue growth has been a central part of its investment case.

Its annualised revenue run rate reached approximately $81 billion as of October 31, up around $10 billion from the end of September, according to its IPO filing.

The company was last valued at $965 billion in a private funding round in May.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has expanded its business around its Claude family of artificial intelligence models.

However, its growth also requires substantial computing capacity.

The company has nearly $900 billion in computing commitments with partners, including Amazon and Alphabet’s Google.

These commitments highlight Anthropic’s dependence on external infrastructure providers and financing arrangements to secure the computing resources required to support its expansion.

Private placement could take total fundraising to $90.4 billion

Alongside the public offering, Anthropic plans to raise $26 billion through a separate private placement involving major technology companies.

The cornerstone investors include Alphabet, Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. Other participants include Broadcom, Micron Technology, Microsoft and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Combined with the IPO, the transactions could raise as much as $90.4 billion.

Certain Anthropic board members and related entities are also expected to purchase up to $303 million worth of shares.

The scale of the planned fundraising makes the listing a major test of investor appetite for artificial intelligence companies. Anthropic’s valuation and demand for its shares will also provide an indication of how public-market investors assess the industry’s growth prospects and substantial infrastructure requirements.

Retail investors looking to buy shares of the company have to wait a little longer until the company is officially listed on the Nasdaq.

Prospective investors can read our in-depth guide to learn more about how to invest in Anthropic and how to buy Anthropic pre-IPO.

AI disclosure: AI tools assisted with research and drafting of this piece. An Invezz editor reviewed the facts, sources and wording before publication. Any opinions or analysis are Invezz’s, not those of an automated system.

The post Anthropic IPO draws multiple times its share supply as demand surges: report appeared first on Invezz

You may also like