Anthropic Backers See Massive Gains Ahead of Public Offering

The artificial intelligence sector is bracing for a major shift as one of its most prominent labs moves closer to a public debut. Anthropic is expected to list on the stock market later this year, with projections placing its valuation at up to $2 trillion. This milestone stands to deliver significant financial rewards to the venture capitalists and individual investors who backed the company in its earlier stages.

Even before the public offering, the stakes held by these backers are already substantial. At the company’s most recent private market valuation of $965 billion, many of these holdings are worth billions of dollars. The following figures outline the current value of key positions based on that last private round, according to reports from Bloomberg.

Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, has seen his position grow dramatically. He participated in Anthropic’s Series A in 2021, a round that valued the startup at $461 million. Data from PitchBook indicates that Schmidt owns approximately 1% of the company today. At the current private valuation, that ownership stake is worth nearly $10 billion.

Iconiq Capital made a significant late-stage bet on the company last year. The firm invested $6 billion when Anthropic was already valued at $183 billion. That investment has since appreciated to a value of $17 billion. If the IPO proceeds as anticipated, this position has the potential to double in value again.

Menlo Ventures led the Series D funding round and has poured more than $1 billion into Anthropic over time. Their cumulative stake is currently valued at $14 billion. Meanwhile, Sequoia Capital entered the picture earlier this year with a $3 billion investment. That move gave them about 1% ownership when the company was valued at $380 billion, meaning their initial capital has already more than doubled.

Sound Ventures, launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, also holds a significant position. The firm initially invested $35 million in the 2023 Series C round and has since added another $400 million to its portfolio. This total investment now represents a stake worth billions. It is worth noting that Kutcher departed Sound Ventures earlier this year to start a new venture capital firm. Spark Capital, the only VC firm known to hold a board seat, invested $75 million in that same 2023 round. When the company was valued at $5 billion, that sum was modest, but the position has since ballooned more than ninetyfold to a value of $7 billion.