How to get on the Anthropic pre-IPO action as a retail investor

Are you a retail investor wanting Anthropic exposure before Wall Street has a few indirect ways in, while the company stays private? Well, welcome!

As Cryptopolitan recently reported, Anthropic ended July with annualized revenue above $65 billion, which is ahead of expectations. The Claude creator filed an early S-1 in June, according to CNBC, and at the scale now being discussed, it could become the largest market debut ever for a foundation-model company.

The challenging thing for ordinary investors is later-stage private funding rounds are normally dominated by venture capitalists, institutional investors, company founders, employees, and wealthy individuals.

One route is through funds that currently hold Anthropic in their portfolio, since that would mean that you aren’t directly investing in Anthropic, but rather in a portion of it held by the fund. According to the Financial Times, there were reports that investors believed trading could begin as early as October. This came after reports that the firm was worth up to $2 trillion.

Listed funds already let retail investors get a small piece of Anthropic before any IPO

One place to start is exchange-traded funds already holding private Anthropic shares. The iShares AI Innovation & Tech Active ETF (BAI) has a position.

So do the T. Rowe Price Technology ETF (TTEQ) and the KraneShares Public-Private AI & Technology ETF (AGIX). Both BAI and TTEQ invest privately in OpenAI, which is one of Anthropic’s main foundation model rivals. This means that buying either ETF will provide you access to two private AI companies among others. This is not a way of investing in Anthropic.

Fred Alger Management provides three additional ways for retail investors to do this via publicly listed ETFs. Anthropic is included in the Alger 35 ETF (ATFV), Alger AI Enablers & Adopters ETF (ALAI), and Alger Concentrated Equity ETF (CNEQ).

Among the ETFs mentioned, the CNEQ has the largest Anthropic position. Even there, Anthropic accounts for less than 4% of the fund’s composition. Investing $1,000 in CNEQ does not mean investing $1,000 in Anthropic. Part is invested in Anthropic while the remaining in other assets.

Cathie Wood gives investors another option through ARK Invest’s ARK Venture Fund (ARKVX). Cathie’s fund is not a normal ETF. ARKVX is a closed-end fund with a minimum investment of $500 and a net expense ratio of 2.9%. Though the fund is also semi-liquid, selling the whole position whenever you want is not exactly always be possible.

Fundrise cuts the minimum while Anthropic’s private share estimate sits above $692

A cheaper entry point comes through the Fundrise Innovation Fund (VCX). Fundrise says the fund owns Anthropic alongside other private startups. Investors can start with just $10.

VCX continues to be a closed-end fund, hence, the reduced minimum will not eliminate its liquidity constraints. Morningstar (NASDAQ: MORN) has also provided observations that potential investors could want to take into consideration regarding the analysis of the fund.

In addition, there is a private market valuation that investors could consider in evaluating Anthropic since the company is not listed. According to Nasdaq Private Market, the value of Anthropic’s share stands at $692.39 as of August 11, 2026. The valuation is called the NPM price.

NPM builds the figure from private transactions, public valuation information, and its own proprietary data. Investors who pay for NPM Data and Intelligence can see more details on the current estimate and the factors affecting it.

Anthropic is also meeting with possible investors prior to figuring out how and when to proceed further. Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao is spearheading these early meetings.

Krishna has talked about the suite of Claude models, how Anthropic created Claude Code, the company’s position in the enterprise AI market, the company’s management team, and number of product launches.

The choice comes down to how much Anthropic each vehicle owns, what it charges, how easily you can get your money back if you do decide to invest, and how much of your portfolio is tied to other assets.

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