6 Things to Know About Anthropic's Upcoming IPO

Anthropic is the parent company of artificial intelligence (AI) platform Claude and one of the most important and fastest-growing AI companies today. The market has been paying close attention to news about its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), which could be the biggest ever, even dwarfing the recent Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) IPO.

Here are six things to know about Anthropic's efforts to go public.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. It could be the biggest IPO ever

SpaceX raised $86.7 billion in its record-shattering IPO, but Anthropic is seeking to unseat it as the record holder, targeting a $100 billion IPO. It filed for an IPO confidentially in June, and the next steps are a public filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and an IPO roadshow to gather interest from institutional investors.

2. It could have a $2 trillion valuation

Based on its most recent funding rounds and the expected IPO raise, Anthropic could debut with a $2 trillion valuation. That would put it roughly on equal standing with SpaceX, which is currently worth $2 trillion, as the sixth-most-valuable company in the U.S.

3. Its public debut is not set for November

It was originally reported that Anthropic was planning a September or October IPO, but it's been pushed to November. The company was advised to wait until it could show a strong third-quarter performance before the roadshow, and it may also have decided to do so, since CEO Dario Amodei wrote a note last week urging the AI industry to deliberately slow down model capability advancements to allow safety and alignment work time to catch up.

4. It could get special treatment from various indexes

SpaceX stock was fast-tracked for inclusion in several indexes, such as the Nasdaq-100, and Anthropic might be, too. Although these companies are going public as some of the most valuable in the world, they still wouldn't make it into many indexes because criteria such as market capitalization and profitability haven't yet been demonstrated.

SpaceX isn't profitable on a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, and Anthropic may not be either, although its financials aren't public yet.

5. Anthropic is growing fast

According to Bloomberg, Anthropic's second-quarter revenue was $11.5 billion, a massive increase from $787 million the year before. That's generating intense investor interest in the IPO.

6. The AI landscape is changing fast

There's reason for investor caution with Anthropic. Amodei's note last week urging the industry to slow down development was preceded by an AI model that went rogue and attacked another AI model. Several other AI leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman and SpaceX's Elon Musk, publicly stated that they agree with Amodei's assessment. That could change the landscape for how these AI companies continue to develop.

At the same time, there's been major opposition to the construction of data centers in many U.S. cities, which could also impact AI build-out.

High-profile IPOs generally catch a lot of attention, but investors should take a pragmatic approach to the Anthropic IPO and keep in mind the fundamentals for considering a good investment.

Jennifer Saibil has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.