Anthropic is preparing to enter the public markets with a valuation of up to $1.4 trillion, using extraordinary revenue growth and rising corporate adoption of its Claude AI platform to support what could become one of the largest initial public offerings in history.
The scale of the proposed listing reflects how quickly the economics of the artificial intelligence industry have changed. Anthropic, once valued primarily on its technology and potential, is now presenting investors with a rapidly expanding revenue base, a growing enterprise customer portfolio and evidence that businesses are committing substantially more money to its products.
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Tuesday that the company’s growth provides a strong justification for its proposed valuation, describing the offering as a positive signal for technology stocks and the wider AI trade.
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“The fact that this deal is on is bullish for tech and the AI trade,” the “Mad Money” host said.
Anthropic filed updated IPO paperwork outlining plans to offer 825 million shares at between $70 and $78 each. At the top of that range, the share sale would raise $64.35 billion and value the company at approximately $1.405 trillion on a fully diluted basis.
The company plans to price the offering on November 18 and begin trading the following day. A separate $26 billion private placement, purchased by major AI companies including Nvidia and Alphabet, could take the total capital raised beyond the amount generated by SpaceX’s June IPO.
The proposed valuation places Anthropic among the world’s most valuable technology companies before it has established a public-market trading history. Investors will therefore be required to assess not only its current financial performance but also the durability of its growth, its competitive position and the enormous costs associated with developing and operating frontier AI models.
Enterprise Adoption Drives Revenue Growth
Anthropic reported revenue of $33.2 billion for the first nine months of 2026, representing a 1,206% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to its updated prospectus.
Enterprise adoption has been a major contributor to that expansion, particularly demand for Claude Code, the company’s AI coding agent. The product has helped Anthropic turn its position in the AI market into a substantial business opportunity as companies integrate AI tools into software development and other corporate operations.
The number of Anthropic customers spending more than $100,000 annually has increased to over 11,900, compared with approximately 1,500 at the end of 2025. That expansion suggests the company’s growth is extending beyond smaller users and experimental deployments into larger commercial relationships.
The spending pattern among existing customers is also significant. Anthropic reported a net revenue retention rate of approximately 900% at the end of September. The measure indicates that customers from an earlier period are generating roughly nine times as much revenue as they did a year earlier, after accounting for changes in their spending and customer relationships.
Such a figure points to substantial expansion within Anthropic’s existing customer base. It suggests that companies are not simply testing Claude and moving on, but are increasing their use of the platform as they identify additional applications.
For investors, this is an important part of the valuation argument. Rapid customer acquisition can generate impressive headline growth, but rising expenditure among existing customers provides another indication that a product is becoming embedded in business operations. If that spending persists, Anthropic could build a more durable revenue base than one dependent primarily on new customer sign-ups.
Cramer described the company’s growth rate as the principal reason its IPO could become the largest in history.
“Anthropic’s tantalizing growth rate is the key reason why this should be the largest IPO in history,” Cramer said.
However, the latest figures also reveal a development that investors will need to examine closely: revenue is still expanding rapidly, but the pace of sequential growth has begun to moderate.
Anthropic’s quarter-over-quarter revenue growth slowed to 47% in the third quarter from 144% in the second quarter. The deceleration is substantial, even though 47% quarterly growth remains unusually strong for a company operating at Anthropic’s scale.
Cramer attributed part of the slowdown to the law of large numbers, under which maintaining exceptionally high percentage growth becomes more difficult as a company’s revenue base expands. He also pointed to intensifying competition from OpenAI and the possibility that corporate customers are becoming more selective about their AI spending.
“To some extent, it’s the law of large numbers at work, and let’s be clear that 47% sequential growth is still very impressive,” Cramer said.
The distinction between annual growth and sequential momentum will be important when investors evaluate the IPO. The 1,206% year-on-year increase demonstrates how quickly Anthropic has expanded, but the slowdown between the second and third quarters offers a more immediate indication of how its growth trajectory is evolving.
$81 Billion Run Rate and the Valuation Case
Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate reached $81 billion at the end of October, according to the prospectus. The measure projects annual revenue using the company’s most recent monthly sales, rather than representing revenue already earned over a full year.
The figure suggests that demand remained strong after the third-quarter slowdown. If the October pace continues, Anthropic could move closer to $100 billion in annualized revenue by the end of the year.
That prospect is key to the valuation investors are being asked to accept. At up to $1.405 trillion, the company would be valued at a substantial multiple of its reported nine-month revenue. Investors are effectively paying for expectations that Anthropic can sustain rapid expansion, increase enterprise penetration and convert its growing sales into stronger financial returns.
The $26 billion private placement involving Nvidia, Alphabet and other leading AI companies adds another dimension to the transaction. Participation by major industry players could provide a substantial capital cushion and strengthen commercial relationships across the AI ecosystem. However, the private investment should be assessed separately from the public share offering when calculating the company’s total fundraising.
Anthropic’s competitive position will also come under closer scrutiny as a listed company. OpenAI remains a major rival in the market for frontier AI models and enterprise services, while customers have more options as AI developers compete on model performance, pricing, and specialized applications.
The slowing sequential growth rate makes this competition particularly relevant. Anthropic has demonstrated that it can attract customers and increase spending among existing users, but maintaining that momentum will require continued product development and a clear economic case for businesses paying for AI services.
Cramer said the company was still growing at an impressive pace, even if it had moved past its peak growth period.
“It’s good to see that it’s still growing nicely,” Cramer said. “As for Anthropic’s revenue and growth rate, the main subject of tonight’s review, it’s nothing less extraordinary, even if we are slightly past the peak, growth-wise.”
His assessment captures the central tension surrounding the IPO: Anthropic’s expansion remains exceptional, but the valuation leaves investors with limited room for disappointment.
The listing could provide a major test of public-market confidence in the commercial potential of frontier AI. Strong enterprise revenue and an $81 billion annualized run rate offer substantial evidence that the technology is generating significant demand. The more difficult question is how much of that growth can be sustained as competition intensifies and businesses become more disciplined about AI budgets.
Anthropic is arriving on the public market with a scale of revenue growth rarely seen among technology companies. Its challenge will be to demonstrate that the business can grow into the valuation, rather than relying on the expectation that the AI market will continue expanding at extraordinary rates.