Anthropic moves closer to IPO as bankers line up investor meetings

Anthropic is lining up meetings with investors ahead of a potential initial public offering later this year, a person with knowledge of the plans told CNBC.

Bankers leading the offering are scheduling meetings between prospective investors and executives of the artificial intelligence firm behind the popular Claude models, said the person, who declined to be identified speaking about the process.

The meetings suggest Anthropic’s IPO preparations are advancing, as bankers begin sounding out investor demand before a formal roadshow and eventual share sale. Anthropic confidentially filed its IPO prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, but hasn’t disclosed when it plans to debut.

The giant AI startup could hit the public markets as soon as October, though the timing could change, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the investor meetings. An Anthropic spokesperson declined to comment.

An Anthropic listing would build on momentum from June’s massive SpaceX IPO and further open the public markets to companies at the center of the AI boom. It follows years in which the industry’s biggest names remained private while raising hundreds of billions of dollars from investors.

Anthropic appears poised to beat rival OpenAI to the public markets, which could be an advantage for the startup if AI enthusiasm later wanes. OpenAI also confidentially filed for an IPO with the SEC in June, but it has not disclosed any additional details.