Anthropic Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao has begun early-stage meetings with prospective IPO investors, people familiar with the matter told CNBC on August 13, as the artificial intelligence company moves toward what could become the largest initial public offering in history.
The sessions are described as preliminary investor education rather than a formal roadshow. Rao has not discussed valuation in the meetings, the sources said, a standard approach in the weeks before a company formally prices its offering and selects underwriters.
Investor sources cited by QZ are targeting an IPO valuation of $2 trillion or more, aiming for an October 2026 listing. If Anthropic prices at that level, it would surpass SpaceX's $1.77 trillion debut in June 2026 as the largest IPO on record. No exchange, ticker, or underwriter has been officially confirmed.
A rapid path from startup to near-$1 trillion
Anthropic's growth trajectory helps explain why investors are willing to price the company at twice its last primary valuation. In May 2026, Anthropic closed a $65 billion Series H funding round at a post-money valuation of $965 billion, as reported by TechCrunch. The company simultaneously disclosed that its annualized revenue had crossed $47 billion, up from roughly $10 billion in full-year 2025, according to Anthropic's own disclosures ahead of the Series H.
The Series H was co-led by Altimeter Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, Greenoaks Capital, and Sequoia Capital, with participation from Capital Group, Coatue Management, D1 Capital Partners, Baillie Gifford, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, DST Global, Fidelity Investments, and infrastructure partners Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology, per TechCrunch.