The second half of 2026 is shaping up to be one of the most significant periods for IPO issuance in recent decades. The number of companies going public in the US remains modest, but the value of those that are is smashing previous records. SpaceX’s listing in June, at a $1.77 trillion valuation, closed its first day with a market cap of around $2.1 trillion, ahead of the roughly $1.7 trillion valuation Saudi Aramco achieved at its 2019 listing (Bloomberg, 5th December 2019). Now Anthropic’s IPO is the one to watch.

The timeline

The maker of Claude AI filed confidential IPO documents with the SEC on 1 June (Bloomberg, 1st June 2026), and the timeline has since firmed up, if shifted a little later than first expected. with a listing potentially just ahead of the US midterm elections in November.

The numbers behind the listing

The scale under discussion is striking. Anthropic’s most recent funding round, a $65bn Series H completed in May, valued the company at $965bn (Bloomberg, 28th May 2026). Bankers are reportedly discussing a potential listing valuation of up to $2 trillion, a figure that assumes the company keeps delivering on its current pace of growth. Revenue has been climbing sharply: annualised revenue reached more than $65bn by July, per Anthropic’s own update to investors (Bloomberg, 17th August 2026), with management targeting between $190bn and $200bn in annual revenue by 2028 (Reuters, 14th August 2026). Second quarter revenue alone surged more than 14-fold year on year to above $11.5bn (Bloomberg, 14th August 2026), and Anthropic was on pace, per an earlier Bloomberg report, for its first quarterly operating profit (Bloomberg, 20th May 2026).

Who is involved

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are leading the offering, with Citigroup added to the top tier of banks in August (Bloomberg, 3rd June and 20th August 2026). Anthropic is separately finalising a $15bn revolving credit facility (Bloomberg, 3rd September 2026). Amazon and Alphabet remain its largest strategic shareholders heading into the listing. Alphabet’s stake was valued at around $124bn following a July regulatory filing (Bloomberg, 23rd July 2026); Amazon has not disclosed the size of its holding, with the exact figures for both expected once the S-1 is published. As with the other mega cap names coming to market this year, growth rather than current profitability sits at the centre of the investment case. The gap between a $965bn private valuation and a possible $2 trillion public one leaves little room for a stumble in execution or sentiment.

Not arriving alone

Anthropic is not coming to market in isolation. SpaceX set the tone for the second half of the year, with a Nasdaq debut on 12 June that raised $86bn, above its original $75bn target, at a $1.77 trillion valuation. The stock closed its first day up 19% at $161 a share (Bloomberg, 12th June 2026), even though the company remains loss making at the bottom line. Demand was intense, with the order book more than four times oversubscribed by the time books closed (Bloomberg, 10th June 2026). The shares have been volatile since, falling as much as 20% below their issue price in late July before partly recovering (Bloomberg, 28th July 2026), with further swings around insider share unlocks in August and September. OpenAI has also filed confidentially for an IPO, though on a less definite timeline than Anthropic’s, although CEO Sam Altman, did indicate an early 2027 timeline. No formal valuation has been disclosed, but a Reuters report has floated a figure approaching $1 trillion (Bloomberg, 29th October 2025).

What to watch

Between the three names, close to $4 trillion of listed market value could enter public within the next 6-9 months, translating to roughly $200bn of new capital raised. Public markets are being reshaped by a small number of exceptionally large, AI driven listings, and how Anthropic’s debut is priced, and how it performs afterwards, will be a significant signal for the rest of this cycle.

Written by Aaron Dempsey, Research Analyst, Cantor Fitzgerald Ireland.

Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters