The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the AI startup Anthropic, behind the well-known Claude chatbot, is considering launching one of the biggest initial public offerings as early as next year.
In the case of this potential IPO, Anthropic has hired law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, which has been involved in high-profile tech IPOs, including Google, LinkedIn, and Lyft, according to the FT, which cited two sources who are familiar with the matter.
The report also noted that the start-up, which is headed by Chief Executive Dario Amodei, was also seeking a private funding round that would make it worth up to $300 billion, including a total of $15 billion allocated by Microsoft and Nvidia, respectively.
It also reported that major investment banks have also discussed a potential IPO with Anthropic, but sources described the discussions as preliminary and informal.
In case, the news would place Anthropic in a competition to launch with its competitor ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, which is also said to be laying the groundwork for a public offering.
Those potential listings would also put the appetite of investors to loss-making AI startups to the test as concerns around a so-called AI bubble intensify.
An Anthropic spokesperson informed the FT that “It’s fairly standard practice for companies operating at our scale and revenue level to effectively operate as if they are publicly traded companies,” citing that there will be no decisions have been made on timing or whether to go public.
Therefore, CNBC could not reach Anthropic and Wilson Sonsini, which have been advising Anthropic for a few years, to comment. One of the FT sources stated that Anthropic had been undergoing internal preparations for a possible listing, but without further specification.
The FT report comes after a series of prominent shifts within the company over the past, such as the recruitment of former Airbnb executive Krishna Rao, who is among the figures behind the 2020 IPO of this firm.
CNBC was also reporting that Anthropic was recently valued in the range of $350 billion after being invested with up to $5 billion by Microsoft and $10 billion by Nvidia.
The startup has also been aggressively growing in other areas of its race to surpass OpenAI in the AI industry, recently declaring a 50 billion-dollar AI infrastructure development program with data centers in Texas and New York, and tripling its global staff.
The FT report indicates that investors in the company are very excited about the possibility of the company having an IPO that may make it “seize the initiative” from OpenAI.
Although OpenAI has been rumored to contemplate an IPO, its chief financial officer recently stated that it is not seeking a near-term listing; therefore, it finalized a sale of $6.6 billion shares at a $500 billion valuation in October.
