Anthropic IPO: The Billions Waiting for Investors

Anthropic is preparing to go public this year at a valuation that could reach as high as $2 trillion, a listing that stands to reward everyone from its earliest believers to its most recent. Even before any shares are offered to the public, the stakes held by many of its venture capital firms and private backers are already worth billions of dollars, based on the company's most recent private market valuation of $965 billion.

The journey to this point has been marked by a series of increasingly large funding rounds. In 2021, Anthropic's Series A valued the startup at $461 million, a moment when Eric Schmidt invested in the company. Two years later, in 2023, the company raised capital in a Series C round when its valuation had climbed to $5 billion. It was during this round that Sound Ventures, the firm launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, invested $35 million, while Spark Capital invested $75 million.

The company's growth continued at a rapid pace. In 2024, Anthropic was valued at $183 billion, a figure at which Iconiq committed a $6 billion investment. Menlo Ventures, which led Anthropic's Series D, has invested more than $1 billion in the company over time. Sequoia Capital, a firm that first backed the lab earlier this year, entered the picture when the valuation had reached $380 billion, and invested $3 billion for approximately 1% ownership.

The subsequent growth has been dramatic. Spark Capital's 2023 investment of $75 million has ballooned more than ninetyfold to a position now valued at $7 billion. Eric Schmidt, who holds about 1% of the company, has a stake worth nearly $10 billion. Menlo Ventures' cumulative investment now totals $14 billion in value, and the $6 billion check Iconiq wrote last year is currently worth $17 billion.

Sequoia's investment has already more than doubled in value. Sound Ventures, which invested a total of $435 million in 2023 and subsequent rounds, now holds a stake valued at billions. Ashton Kutcher left Sound Ventures this year to launch a new venture capital firm. The prospect of the IPO has the potential to further increase the value of these holdings, with some positions potentially doubling once again upon listing.

The upcoming public offering marks the culmination of a period of rapid growth for Anthropic. The company's valuation has surged from hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions and is now on the cusp of reaching two trillion dollars. For the investors who backed the company at various points in its history, the impending listing represents the realization of enormous returns on their initial commitments.

As the company moves toward its public debut, the focus will shift from private valuations to public market performance. The financial stakes for these backers are already substantial, and the offering will determine the final value of their investments. The listing is expected later this year, bringing with it a significant financial windfall for those who invested in the AI lab's growth.