Anthropic surpasses OpenAI with $1 trillion secondary market valuation amid investor frenzy

Anthropic surpasses biggest rival OpenAI in secondary market valuation -- surges to $1 trillion amid frantic investor interest

Investors are willing to pay almost three times the actual value for Anthropic shares According to a Business Insider report today, Anthropic -- the company behind Claude AI -- has surged to a one-trillion-dollar valuation on private secondary trading market Forge Global, surpassing competitor OpenAI's $880 billion valuation in the same markets. The surge highlights a steep uptick in investor demand for exposure to artificial intelligence, but what do these figures really mean, and what exactly is driving this spike? Because neither Anthropic nor OpenAI is publicly listed, most investors cannot access shares through traditional stock exchanges. Instead, trades occur on secondary marketplaces, where early employees or investors can sell portions of their holdings. These markets behave very differently from public equities: Supply is limited, as few insiders are willing to sell; pricing is based on individual deals, making transactions opaque; and valuations are controlled by a small handful of very powerful investors. Anthropic's actual valuation is anchored in its latest round of funding in February 2026, in which the company received a consensus $380 billion post-money valuation following due diligence and structured negotiations with institutional investors. However, the $1 trillion secondary market valuation reflects what people without access are willing to pay for a slice of Anthropic. Business Insider reports that, according to Ken Sawyer, cofounder and managing partner at Saints Capital, a venture secondary firm, an Anthropic shareholder recently offered to unload shares at a $1.15 trillion valuation. As unbelievable as that sounds, it appears people are willing to pay. In an X post this week, Jesse Leimgruber, founder of OpenHome, claimed that a "very well-known growth fund" offered to buy Anthropic shares at a $1.05 trillion valuation. It gets crazier. In a LinkedIn post, one investor offered their 14-acre estate in exchange for Anthropic shares at a valuation of over $800 billion, more than twice the actual value. "It's been an epic run for Anthropic," Glen Anderson, CEO of Rainmaker Securities, told Business Insider. "Everybody wants to be part of a generational opportunity in AI, and right now, Anthropic is in the pole position." The company said it had fielded numerous offers from VCs, with one offer coming in at a $960 billion valuation, a price Anderson said would have been unthinkable even a few weeks ago. Still, he expects it to be snapped up by someone else. Those who currently own Anthropic shares also report being inundated with numerous offers. "We receive daily offers from the ridiculous to the sublime," Bradley Horowitz, a general partner at an early investor in both Anthropic and OpenAI, told Business Insider. "I barely open those emails because we're not interested. We are playing a long game." Interestingly, this surge may be more about Anthropic than about AI fever in general, as secondary market sentiment appears to have shifted away from OpenAI, despite its larger scale and an estimated valuation of around $850 billion from recent funding rounds. Traders report comparatively muted demand for OpenAI shares, with some bids coming in below its last primary valuation. Perhaps the contrast in demand stems from the difference in the companies' actual valuation - OpenAI's secondary valuation of $880 billion is just $30 billion less than the actual $850 billion valuation. Meanwhile, Anthropic has a $1 trillion secondary market valuation compared to a $380 billion actual valuation, possibly signaling more room for growth and driving speculative trading. Perhaps it stems from Anthropic's rapid growth, particularly around its Claude AI products, which have positioned the company as a leading contender in the generative AI race. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

Anthropic reportedly hits $1 trillion implied valuation on secondary markets

Secondary share trading platforms are pricing Anthropic at approximately $1 trillion, just three months after its primary fundraising round valued it at $380 billion. OpenAI is trading at $880 billion on the same platforms, a meaningful reversal of the previous order. The valuations are not primary rounds and carry no guarantee of liquidity. Anthropic, the San Francisco-based AI company founded in 2021 by Dario and Daniela Amodei, has reached an implied valuation of approximately $1 trillion on secondary share trading platforms, according to Business Insider, overtaking OpenAI which is trading at approximately $880 billion on the same venues. Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge Global, one of the leading private-company share trading platforms, told Business Insider the valuation was "hovering around the $1 trillion mark." The development arrives without a primary fundraising round or press release: it reflects what buyers on secondary markets are willing to pay for existing shares from current or former employees and early investors. The speed of the appreciation is striking. Anthropic closed a $30 billion Series G funding round, led by GIC and Coatue, in February 2026 at a primary valuation of $380 billion. Three months later, secondary markets are pricing the company at more than two and a half times that figure. The driver, according to market participants cited by Business Insider, is a combination of revenue acceleration and a supply-demand imbalance in Anthropic's shares. Glen Anderson of Rainmaker Securities told Business Insider he had just been offered the opportunity to buy Anthropic shares at a valuation of $960 billion and that a month earlier such a figure would have been "unthinkable", but that the shares were being snapped up by competing buyers within hours. One of Anthropic's shareholders had expressed willingness to sell at an implied valuation of $1.15 trillion, according to Ken Sawyer, co-founder of Saints Capital. The revenue trajectory behind the valuations is extraordinary on its own terms. Anthropic's annualised revenue run rate was approximately $9 billion at the end of 2025; by March 2026 it had reached $30 billion. That is a 233% increase in one quarter, driven primarily by enterprise adoption of Claude Code and the company's broader API and enterprise products. Reuters confirmed Anthropic had not yet agreed a new primary round, having reportedly resisted overtures from venture capital investors for a new fundraise, according to Bloomberg. The demand is therefore being channelled into the secondary market, where buyers must acquire shares from existing holders rather than from the company directly. The OpenAI comparison is the other side of the story. On Forge Global, OpenAI trades at approximately $880 billion, just 3% above the $852 billion primary valuation from its early-2026 fundraising round. According to Caplight, an analytics platform that tracks private-market share activity, the ratio of sellers to buyers in OpenAI shares was five-to-one in Q1 2026, a reversal from the end of 2025, when buyers were dominating sellers. Glen Anderson described interest in OpenAI shares as "tepid" this year, with bids often below the company's last primary valuation. Jesse Leimgruber, founder of AI startup OpenHome and a holder of secondary Anthropic shares, told Business Insider that one "very prominent growth fund" had offered to buy Anthropic shares at a $1.05 trillion implied valuation. Secondary market valuations are categorically different from primary fundraising rounds. They reflect what a buyer is willing to pay for illiquid, minority shares with no guarantee of liquidity, no board rights, and no ability to force a sale or IPO. A secondary price of $1 trillion does not mean Anthropic could raise $1 trillion in a primary round, nor that a future IPO would be priced at that level. The Business Insider article itself noted reports of "feverish demand" and buyers offering homes as collateral for Anthropic shares, language that describes speculative intensity rather than fundamental valuation. Anthropic is reportedly exploring an IPO as early as late 2026.

Anthropic Beats OpenAI on Secondary Markets With $1 Trillion Implied Valuation - Decrypt

Just three months ago, Anthropic's valuation was $380 billion; secondary markets are now pricing it at more than 2.6 times that figure. On secondary share trading platforms, Anthropic has quietly flipped the AI power map -- trading at roughly $1 trillion, overtaking OpenAI for the first time. On Forge Global, one of the leading private-share marketplaces, Anthropic is hovering around the $1 trillion mark, according to Forge CEO Kelly Rodriques, who confirmed the figure to Business Insider. OpenAI, meanwhile, is trading at approximately $880 billion on the same platform. That's not a small gap. And it didn't exist three months ago. In February 2026, Anthropic closed a $30 billion Series G round led by GIC and Coatue at a post-money valuation of $380 billion. Today, secondary markets are pricing the company at almost three times that figure. The speed of the appreciation is unusual even by AI's inflated standards. Anthropic's annualized run rate sat at roughly $9 billion at the end of 2026, based on its own reports. By March 2026, that number had jumped to $30 billion -- a 233% increase in a single quarter, fueled largely by enterprise adoption of Claude Code and the company's API products. Amazon's recent commitment of up to $25 billion in additional investment didn't hurt the mood either. This mix of good deals (and good PR) have increased the appetite for Anthropic shares. Caplight, which tracks private-market share activity, reported that interest in Anthropic has spiked over 650% in the last 12 months. Besides revenue, the supply side is doing the heavy work pushing up these valuations. Anthropic employees and early investors have had very few chances to sell. When buyers pile in and almost nobody is selling, prices move fast. Glen Anderson of Rainmaker Securities told Business Insider that a $960 billion valuation -- which would have been "unthinkable" a month earlier -- was being snapped up within hours by competing buyers. The OpenAI picture looks different. On Forge Global, OpenAI is trading at $880 billion -- just 3% above its $852 billion valuation from its early-2026 fundraising round. Caplight found that in Q1, Sam Altman's company reported more people interested in selling than buying it on secondary markets. None of this means Anthropic is worth $1 trillion in any primary-market sense. Secondary trades are illiquid, minority positions with no board rights and no path to forced liquidity. The trillion-dollar figure reflects what a buyer will pay for a small stake, not what Anthropic could raise in a full funding round, and not necessarily what an IPO would be priced at. Reports suggest Anthropic is exploring a public debut as early as late 2026, with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan advising, targeting an IPO valuation in the $400-$500 billion range. IPO groundwork has been underway since at least late 2025.