Anthropic taps Morgan Stanley, Goldman for IPO launch

Anthropic plans to launch an initial public offering in the coming weeks. The company has named Morgan Stanley as the lead left underwriter and Goldman Sachs as the stabilization agent, and intends to file an S-1 prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as this week.

Morgan Stanley will lead the underwriting syndicate while Goldman Sachs will manage post-IPO stabilization to support trading in the new shares. Barclays and JPMorgan are expected to join the bank group.

Banks involved are likely to share a fee pool exceeding $500 million. A recent large technology IPO distributed roughly $500 million in fees, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley each taking about $100 million in that deal.

The S-1 prospectus will disclose Anthropic’s business model, revenue, profitability and free cash flow. Filing the prospectus is a regulatory step that precedes a roadshow in which management presents strategy and financials to prospective investors ahead of pricing and allocations.

Company disclosures in recent months put the total addressable market at about $30 trillion and report a revenue run rate of roughly $65 billion at the end of July, a sevenfold increase versus the prior year. Those disclosures show revenue higher than at one major rival.

Management attributes growth to the development of advanced AI models and a focus on corporate clients, which the company says has allowed it to command higher prices. Disclosures also show very large operating costs.

Recent filings indicate monthly spending in the billions, including payments of more than $1.5 billion per month for computing capacity and additional large contracts with cloud and infrastructure providers.

Company materials list major private investors whose holdings would change value depending on the IPO price. Using recent private valuations and management projections as a reference, Amazon’s reported $8 billion investment would be worth more than $400 billion. Other investors named in company filings include Google and Nvidia.

After the S-1 submission, the filing will permit the formal marketing period and roadshow to begin. The lead left bank and the stabilization agent will coordinate bookbuilding, allocations and any aftermarket support intended to steady trading once shares begin public trading.