Claude-Maker Anthropic Hires Lawyers For Potential IPO, Races Rival OpenAI To Market

The creator of the popular Claude chatbot, Anthropic, appears to have retained legal counsel to help lay the groundwork for a massive initial public offering (IPO), potentially beating rival OpenAI in the race to get listed in the US market, reports Financial Times.

Anthropic has reportedly selected Wilson Sonsini to handle the legal framework for a potential listing. Wilson Sonsini is a law firm which has been the orchestrator of several Silicon Valley debuts in the past, having previously steered the IPOs of Google, LinkedIn and Lyft.

The report adds that a public offering could occur as early as 2026.

This comes in the midst of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, reportedly conducting preliminary work for a public debut. But it appears Anthropic's investors are eager for the company to list first so that they can seize the market initiative.

Anthropic's apparent preparations for an IPO come as the company negotiates a private funding round that could value the AI startup at an impressive $300 to $350 million.

The company has most recently secured a $15 billion commitment from Microsoft and Nvidia to support this valuation. This also falls just short of OpenAI's valuation of $500 billion in October.

The report adds that internal preparations at Anthropic for a potential listing have been underway for quite some time now, including the hiring of Chief Financial Officer Krishna Rao last year.

Rao previously played a key role in Airbnb's IPO. However, FT reports that talks with investment banks remain informal and no underwriters have been selected as of yet.

An anthropic spokesperson informed FT that the move is being characterised as routine corporate maturation rather than an imminent announcement.

"It’s fairly standard practice for companies operating at our scale and revenue level to effectively operate as if they are publicly traded companies," the spokesperson said. "We haven’t made any decisions about when or even whether to go public."