Anthropic, the leading developer in the field of artificial intelligence, is on the verge of a historic public offering. According to my information, the issuer plans to go public in September, and this move is accompanied by an unconventional decision: unlike the classic scheme, investors and key employees will be allowed to cash out their stakes already at the IPO stage.
The offering prospectus will become available immediately after Labor Day, which falls on September 7 this year. In this document, the company will disclose its financial metrics and a list of risks, giving the market long-awaited clarity on the real state of affairs in one of the most valuable startups on the planet.
A departure from the SpaceX scenario
Notably, Anthropic's approach is radically different from SpaceX's recent IPO. Elon Musk, in listing his space company, sold exclusively new shares, not allowing early shareholders to exit their positions. In the case of Anthropic, we are seeing a fundamentally different strategy: insiders will have the opportunity to lock in profits, which creates additional pressure on buyers forced to absorb a larger volume of shares.
Let me remind you that SpaceX placed 638.9 million shares at $135 in June, raising about $86 billion — this became the largest offering in history. However, all proceeds went to the company's accounts, and Musk retained control with 82.4% of the votes. Anthropic, it seems, wants to kill two birds with one stone: raise capital and provide liquidity to early supporters.
Lock-up as a risk management tool
The key question is the duration of the lock-up period. If SpaceX faced a doubling of its traded volume after its expiration (from 4.9% to 11.8% of capital), then Anthropic is considering a longer sale restriction. This is reasonable: locking in the price and buyers in advance reduces volatility, but insiders will have to wait longer for the next liquidity window.
Major players are queued up for the deal. In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion — the round was led by Altimeter, Dragoneer, Greenoaks, and Sequoia. The participation of state capital is also notable: Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC acted as a co-lead investor alongside Capital Group and Coatue.
The crypto market is already reacting
Interestingly, Anthropic's valuation is already being formed on decentralized platforms as well. On the pre-IPO token market on the Solana network, the PreStocks platform holds 78% of the turnover in OpenAI and Anthropic securities. This confirms the growing connection between traditional finance and the crypto ecosystem.
The prospectus will likely reveal the names of sellers and transaction volumes. It is this list that will show the company's real market valuation, free from marketing claims. For investors, this will be a key signal: if insiders are willing to lock in profits at current prices, that says a lot.
My comment: Anthropic's decision to allow insiders to sell shares at the IPO is a bold but logical step. It reduces the risk of a crash after the lock-up expiration, which we saw with SpaceX, but creates excess supply in the moment. Keep an eye on the prospectus: the real revenue figures and the names of sellers will matter more than any forecasts.