Anthropic prioritises fundraising over a sky-high valuation

According to reports, Anthropic's bankers are considering a share price above the $70 to $78 bracket set on Tuesday. That could push the Claude developer's valuation to $1.5 trillion or even higher.

The change would come less than a day after a corrected filing lowered the top end from $80. A higher price would also drive total capital raised beyond $100 billion.

Robust demand turns a reduction into a rise

Five sources close to the transaction informed the Financial Times (FT) that strong roadshow interest is behind the plan. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

Tuesday's price range indicated a fully diluted valuation of $1.26 trillion to $1.41 trillion. On that range, Anthropic intended to raise as much as $64 billion.

A greenshoe provision could add nearly $10 billion if the deal is oversubscribed. Google, Nvidia and Microsoft will also invest a combined $26 billion at the IPO price.

Together these sums total roughly $100 billion, meaning any price increase pushes the overall figure beyond that threshold.

A higher price also aligns with Anthropic's objectives. Three investors informed the FT that the company now aims to raise as much capital as possible, rather than maximise its valuation.

That cash would back about $900 billion in planned spending on computing power and infrastructure. To address concerns over that expense, Anthropic cited $81 billion in annualised revenue for October.

Why so much depends on Anthropic's market debut

The listing itself arrives during a fragile period for the technology sector. Several days earlier, the US midterm elections pulled tech stocks into a $3 trillion rout.

Markets have recovered, but Jim Cramer has stated that a genuine recovery in AI stocks depends on the Anthropic IPO.

New York Angels' Bob Peck also argued that the IPO could boost tech stocks following recent AI selloffs. Google, Nvidia and Microsoft have financial exposure to the outcome through their allocation.

However, Arthur Hayes sees a downside elsewhere. He has cautioned that AI IPO dilution could drain dollar liquidity behind crypto's rally.

Morningstar values Anthropic's fair equity at $1.7 trillion. Yet its projections, which depend on how quickly companies adopt Anthropic's tools, range from $500 billion to just above $3 trillion.

The final price, anticipated before next week's debut, will reveal where investors fall within that range.