Anthropic Investors Stand to Gain Billions Ahead of IPO
Backers of the AI firm are seeing massive returns on their early bets as the company prepares to go public.
By Neha Iyer ·
Anthropic is preparing to go public in a move that could value the AI company at up to $2 trillion. This listing is set to create a financial windfall for those who invested early. It will also bring significant returns to those who joined the company much later in its growth cycle.
Even before the public listing, the stakes are enormous. Anthropic’s most recent private market valuation sits at $965 billion. At this specific price point, several venture capital firms and individual backers are already holding portfolios worth billions of dollars. Bloomberg has detailed the value of specific holdings at this valuation.
Some investors entered the market when the company was still a very small startup. Eric Schmidt, the former Google CEO, invested during the Series A round in 2021. At that time, the company's valuation was only $461 million. Today, Schmidt owns about 1% of the company. His current stake is valued at nearly $10 billion.
Other firms made much larger bets much later in the company's development. Iconiq wrote a $6 billion check last year. The company was already valued at $183 billion at that time. That late-stage investment is now worth $17 billion. It has the potential to double when the IPO happens.
Menlo Ventures also holds a large position. The firm led the Series D round and has invested more than $1 billion in the company over time. That stake is currently valued at $14 billion. Sequoia Capital entered the market even more recently. They made their first investment earlier this year when the company was valued at $380 billion.
Sequoia invested $3 billion in that round. This gave them about 1% ownership. The firm has already more than doubled its initial investment. Sound Ventures also holds a significant position. The firm was launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher. They invested $35 million during the Series C round in 2023.
Sound Ventures has since added another $400 million to its holdings. This resulted in a stake worth billions of dollars. Kutcher left Sound Ventures this year to launch a new firm. Spark Capital is the only venture firm known to hold a board seat at Anthropic. They invested $75 million in the 2023 Series C round when the company was valued at $5 billion. That position has grown to $7 billion. The firm is expected to benefit when the company goes public.
Source: TechCrunch
