Anthropic is about to become the most valuable private AI company in the world — at least on paper.
Sources with knowledge of the company's plans told TechCrunch that a funding round valuing Anthropic at $900 billion or more could close within two weeks. Given soaring investor demand, the final valuation may exceed that figure. TechCrunch
At $900 billion, Anthropic would not only more than double its February valuation of $380 billion but would also surpass chief rival OpenAI, which closed a record $122 billion round at an $852 billion post-money valuation earlier this year. TechCrunch
The Revenue Picture
Anthropic announced this month that its annual revenue run rate has surpassed $30 billion. But according to sources with knowledge of the company's financials, the actual run rate is currently closer to $40 billion. TechCrunch
That kind of revenue trajectory — at a company that barely existed at scale three years ago — is what is driving the valuation. At $40 billion in annualized revenue, Anthropic is growing faster than almost any enterprise software company in history.
The Pre-IPO Context
This is likely Anthropic's last private round before going public. The company is raising capital to fund its massive computing needs. Some early backers who invested in 2024 or earlier are skipping this round and waiting to potentially cash out during the anticipated IPO later this year. TechCrunch
The timing is notable given the Pentagon news. Anthropic's exclusion from classified military contracts removes a meaningful slice of addressable revenue — federal contracts represent real money at this scale. Whether investors price that risk into the $900 billion figure will be one of the more interesting valuation questions of 2026.
What Business Leaders Should Know
Anthropic's revenue trajectory reflects genuine enterprise adoption. Claude is being built into workflows at companies across finance, legal, software development, and customer operations. The valuation is speculative. The revenue is real. For executives evaluating AI vendors for long-term contracts, Anthropic's financial position — and its IPO timeline — are material factors worth tracking.
