Artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic announced on Monday its application for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States, moving to beat rival OpenAI to the public markets and potentially become the first leading AI company to list its shares.
In its official statement, Anthropic revealed that it filed a confidential registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public, opening the door for investors to buy and sell ownership stakes in the company.
Anthropic has yet to decide how many shares it plans to sell or at what price, but noted that its proposed IPO “will depend on market conditions and other factors.”
The IPO filing comes less than a week after being recognized as the world’s most valuable AI startup with a valuation of $965 billion, just five years after its launch, surpassing ChatGPT-maker OpenAI at $852 billion.
Industry participants were quick to speculate that Anthropic’s filing is a curated move to ensure it maintains its dominance in the capital race for AI investments, especially now that OpenAI and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) have updated and enhanced their coding tools in a bid to remain at the forefront of practical AI deployment.
“The first mover has a real chance to define how public markets value generative AI, setting up the yardstick that investors will use to measure everyone else,” Troy Hooper, leader of equity capital markets at Mergermarket, told BBC.
In May, OpenAI disclosed that it is coordinating with bankers in preparation for a potential IPO application. It remains to be seen when the company will officially file its listing, with CEO Sam Altman saying they are looking to go public “when we think it makes sense.”
Amid industry pressure, Altman has debunked rumors of an IPO race among AI companies and explained that the competition leans more toward delivering the best technology to the market.
“I think there is a race to deliver the best technology, build the best business, but you know, going public is a financing event, and I don’t think that’s one that we’re focused on the timing of,” Altman said.
Regardless of which company reaches the public markets first, one thing is certain—the U.S. capital markets are likely to see a surge in investor interest and capital inflows in the months that would follow.
In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.
Watch: Can we trust AI? How blockchain and IPv6 could fix accountability
Be the first to comment