Anthropic investors eye lower valuation as growth cools before IPO

Some Anthropic investors are weighing a lower valuation for the AI company ahead of its IPO, after its latest financial disclosures, four sources familiar with the matter said. The shift comes amid broader worries about the ballooning cost of financing AI.

Investors who attended Anthropic's investor day on Wednesday in San Francisco discussed a valuation of around $1.5 trillion, three of the people said, a significant step down from the roughly $2 trillion previously expected for the November share sale.

At the meeting, Anthropic told prospective investors its third-quarter revenue jumped 45% from the previous quarter to $16.8 billion, and that it was profitable on an adjusted basis.

Those numbers eased some concerns about the cost of developing AI systems. But some investors were disappointed by the slowing sequential growth rate in the latest quarter, the sources added, as Anthropic's revenue more than doubled from the first quarter to $11.6 billion in the second. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly.

Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A cooler reception for Anthropic's IPO could weigh on the wider AI market. Investors see the sector's near-term prospects as hinging largely on the share sale – and on OpenAI's potential listing next year.

Bellwether IPO

The concerns come as a tech selloff hits AI infrastructure companies, directly hammering chipmakers and "neocloud" providers that rent computing power for AI. Shares and bonds of Nvidia-backed CoreWeave tumbled on Thursday, reflecting growing worry about an AI buildout increasingly bankrolled with borrowed money.

A disappointing share sale for Anthropic could add to those woes.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has emerged as one of the leading generative AI developers with its Claude family of models. Its rapid growth has been underpinned by Google and Amazon, which are simultaneously investors, suppliers of computing power and important distribution partners, as well as AI competitors.