Anthropic eyes October IPO as Claude AI sees record subscriber growth amid Pentagon battle

Anthropic Accelerates IPO Plans With October Target

Anthropic is moving forward with plans for an initial public offering as soon as October, according to people familiar with the matter 2

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. The Claude AI developer has initiated early discussions with Wall Street banks about leading roles on a potential listing, with Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co, and Morgan Stanley expected to be under consideration 2

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. Some bankers anticipate the listing could raise more than $60 billion, though deliberations remain ongoing and no final decisions have been made 4

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. This aggressive timeline positions Anthropic in a race with rival OpenAI to complete a public market debut.

Record Subscriber Growth Signals Market Momentum

The company's push toward public markets comes as Claude AI experiences unprecedented user adoption. An analysis of credit card transactions from approximately 28 million U.S. consumers conducted by Indagari for TechCrunch revealed that consumers began spending in record numbers between January and February 3

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. The data also showed record levels of previous Claude users returning to the service in February, demonstrating strong retention alongside new customer acquisition 3

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. While Anthropic has not disclosed total consumer Claude users, estimates range from 18 million to 30 million, and the company confirmed that paid subscriptions to Claude have more than doubled this year 3

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Company Valuation Soars Following Massive Funding Rounds

Anthropic was valued at $380 billion in a $30 billion funding round co-led by MGX that closed in February 2

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. This represents a dramatic increase from the $183 billion valuation achieved just five months earlier during a Series F round in September 2025, when the company raised $13 billion 4

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. Chief Commercial Officer Paul Smith stated the company is "very comfortable" with its funding situation after the recent round, providing a sizable war chest to spend on costly chips, data centers, and talent needed to compete in the global AI race 1

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. The company has partnerships with Google, Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Nvidia Corp., with these established firms taking stakes and providing specialized chips and technology in deals worth tens of billions of dollars 2

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Cowork Agent Positioned to Surpass Claude Code Success

Anthropic expects its general-purpose AI chatbot agent Cowork to reach a wider market than Claude Code, the hit product that generates more than $2 billion in annualized revenue 1

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. Paul Smith said Anthropic has seen stronger adoption for Cowork "in the first few weeks" than it did in a comparable period for Claude Code a year ago 1

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. Smith noted that the average large company has somewhere between 2% and 5% of its staff working in engineering, while Cowork is designed to appeal to "the rest of us" 1

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. Unlike Claude Code, which requires users to run a terminal and type in a command line, Cowork tackles a broader range of tasks for software developers and general knowledge workers 1

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Pentagon Battle and US Government Ban Create Uncertainty

The exposure comes at a delicate moment as Anthropic navigates a legal battle with the Pentagon over a supply chain risk designation. The Pentagon declared the company a threat to the U.S. supply chain under an authority normally reserved for foreign adversaries, following a standoff over AI safety guardrails related to the military's use of Claude for autonomous weapons and domestic surveillance 2

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. Anthropic argued the move could cost it billions of dollars in lost revenue, with more than 100 customers expressing concerns about continuing to engage with the company 4

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. The company won a preliminary injunction blocking the ban on government use of the technology, though a final verdict could be months away 2

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Competition With OpenAI Intensifies Across Multiple Fronts

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI staffers including Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei, Anthropic has emerged as a fierce competitor in the AI race 2

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. The competition with OpenAI now extends to both product innovation and capital markets, with both companies racing to complete an initial public offering 2

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. Smith expects the pace of AI model releases to accelerate, stating "I think the pace of innovation is going to increase" and that "model releases will keep coming, and if anything, they will keep coming with more frequency" 1

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. This rapid release cycle recently contributed to a source code leak behind Claude Code, which Smith attributed to "process errors" rather than breaches or hacks 1

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Enterprise AI Strength Drives Revenue Growth

Anthropic's run-rate revenue has topped $19 billion, more than double the $9 billion achieved about three months earlier, driven by the popularity of Claude Code and other AI models 4

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. When announcing its Series G funding rounds in February, the company attributed investor interest in part to its strength in enterprise AI and coding 4

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. Claude and its underlying technology have gained traction with enterprise customers in sectors like finance and health care, as well as with developers 2

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. Smith said Anthropic is "very comfortable that we're on the right path from gross margin targets and the previous profitability targets that we've stated" 1

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. The company has pledged to spend $50 billion to build custom data centers in the U.S. 2

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