Artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Anthropic has hired law firm Wilson Sonsini to prepare an initial public offering (IPO) for it. This could take place next year. This was reported today by the British newspaper Financial Times (FT), citing its sources. The IPO of the company operating the AI-powered chatbot Claude could be one of the largest ever.
Preparing to go public
Going public would allow the company, whose investors include Amazon and Google, to raise capital more quickly and strengthen its position in larger acquisitions. The move comes at a time when AI is being used more and more, thanks to higher corporate investment in technology and growing interest from investors and the public.
Negotiations on the IPO are still in the early stages and are informal in nature. According to sources, the start-up has also discussed a possible share offering with major investment banks.
Rapid growth of Anthropic and competition
Anthropic is now negotiating a new private financing round that could value the company at more than $300 billion (CZK 6.2 trillion). Founded in 2021 by former employees of rival OpenAI, the company was recently valued at $183 billion. The company plans to more than double its annual revenue next year to roughly $26 billion. It has more than 300,000 commercial and enterprise customers. Microsoft and Nvidia announced in November that they plan to invest up to $15 billion in Anthropic. The company has committed to using Microsoft’s cloud services.
Anthropic’s main competitor, OpenAI, is also preparing for an initial public offering. OpenAI is behind the ChatGPT chatbot. The company could be worth up to $1 trillion. Reuters recently reported that the company could file an application with regulators in the second half of next year. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in November that going public is not in the startup’s short-term plans. Wilson Sonsini has been advising Anthropic since 2022, including on business negotiations surrounding Amazon’s billion-dollar investments. The firm also has experience with IPOs for large technology companies, having worked for Google, LinkedIn, and Lyft, among others.
Source: ÄŒTK
