Claude developer Anthropic has confidentially filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering in the United States. The US AI company announced this on Monday.
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Anthropic did not disclose the size or terms of the planned IPO. “This (the application, note) gives us the option to go public upon completion of the SEC’s review. The planned IPO depends on market conditions and other factors,” the statement said. “The number of shares offered and the price have not yet been determined.”
Confidential filings allow companies to advance IPO preparations while protecting sensitive financial information from competitors and the public. According to US media, Anthropic’s IPO could take place as early as autumn.
SpaceX and OpenAI IPOs
Anthropic’s announcement to go public comes shortly before SpaceX’s planned record IPO. Elon Musk’s space company wants to hold this on June 12th. SpaceX wants to raise up to $80 billion from investors. The high costs of developing the Starship rocket recently caused the space company to lose billions. And ChatGPT developer OpenAI is also aiming for the stock market. The company is expected to submit the relevant application soon.
Anthropic has now surprisingly forestalled OpenAI. According to analysts, Anthropic could want to gain a strategic advantage over OpenAI. Both companies compete for AI computing power and talent, but also for the necessary change, i.e. investor capital, for AI development.
“OpenAI and Anthropic are in a race to go public before they run out of capital,” said Gil Luria, analyst at investment firm DA Davidson, to the Reuters news agency – and before the AI boom possibly cools down a bit.
Anthropic rated higher than OpenAI
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According to the US daily New York Times, Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI as the world’s most successful AI start-up with new funding worth $65 billion. Amazon has pledged to invest $25 billion in Anthropic; Google will invest up to $40 billion in Anthropic. Anthropic therefore has a valuation of almost 900 billion US dollars; OpenAI was most recently valued at $730 billion.
Anthropic hit the headlines earlier this year when the US War Department demanded unlimited access to Anthropic’s AI model Claude and gave the company an ultimatum after its refusal. The AI company does not want to allow the US government to use its own AI technology for mass surveillance of the US population or to develop weapons that fire without human involvement. After the break with Anthropic, the Pentagon apparently concluded an AI deal with OpenAI.
In April, Anthropic introduced its new powerful AI model Mythos, which can identify and fix security vulnerabilities in software systems. But this was too powerful and therefore too dangerous for the public, Anthropic decided. Instead, Claude Mythos Preview will initially only be made available to a number of companies that work on IT security. Anthropic and the US government then resumed discussions about collaboration.
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