Anthropic files for IPO as SEC review clock starts

Anthropic files – Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has confidentially filed a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC, signaling it wants to list publicly once regulators finish their review. The move comes as investors brace for a potentially dominant IPO cy

By the time the market wakes up, the decision has already been set in motion. Anthropic PBC has quietly taken the most consequential step it can toward a public debut—submitting a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

On Monday, the company announced it has filed confidentially to go public. The filing, Anthropic said, gives it the option to move after the SEC completes its review. “The proposed initial public offering will depend on market conditions and other factors,” the company said.

For investors fixated on AI, this isn’t just another corporate milestone. Anthropic. the developer of the popular Claude LLM. is positioning itself for what could be the biggest stock listing of the year so far—built on a momentum that has transformed expectations for AI companies and raised the stakes for the IPO pipeline.

The timing also matters in the race for investors’ attention. The filing gives Anthropic a potential edge over its chief rival. OpenAI. which is also said to be planning an IPO this year. OpenAI’s early start—launching ChatGPT to the public in 2022—was widely seen as a first-mover advantage. Anthropic’s move narrows that timeline.

Anthropic’s origin story is part of why the market is watching so closely. The company was founded in 2021 by a group from OpenAI that defected and started their own business, citing concerns about OpenAI’s direction.

Yet Monday’s announcement deliberately avoided the details that traders usually chase first. The company did not lay out a timeline, an estimated listing date, or the number of shares to be offered.

What it did offer—through the figures it has already put on display—points to why an IPO like this could reshape expectations across tech. Anthropic’s valuation has ballooned to $965 billion following a $65 billion Series H funding round announced last week. To reinforce its growth story. the company said it has crossed a revenue run rate of $47 billion. up from $10 billion the year prior.

The numbers land in a broader competitive backdrop. In late March, OpenAI announced its valuation was $852 billion.

Even with today’s uncertainty over timing and pricing, the filing lands at a moment when public markets are bracing for a hotter stretch ahead. The tech IPO market is poised to heat up in 2026, and more than one megadeal could drive headlines.

In addition to potential listings from Anthropic and OpenAI, Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, is preparing for an IPO that could raise more than $75 billion at a valuation of between $1.75 and $2 trillion.

IPO activity has not matched last year’s pace. During Q1 2026, the total number of IPOs globally was 232, based on data from EY. For comparison, the first quarter of 2025 saw 300 IPOs, and the pace picked up later in the year, ending with 1,331 IPOs for 2025 overall.

With Anthropic now having filed its Form S-1 draft and opened the door to a potential listing after SEC review. the next question shifts from whether the company wants to go public to what the market will tolerate—how much valuation. how fast. and how soon—once the regulator’s process starts turning into a real-world timetable.

Anthropic Claude IPO SEC Form S-1 OpenAI SpaceX AI stocks tech IPO market valuation revenue run rate Series H