AI Unicorn Anthropic Reportedly Targeting an October IPO — How to Get Indirect Exposure Before It Lists

As one of Silicon Valley’s hottest AI unicorns, Anthropic has been on a tear lately. It’s not just making noise on the tech front—its revenue is accelerating, and its IPO plan appears to be moving forward quickly.

According to Bloomberg and other reports, Anthropic is evaluating an IPO as early as October 2026, with a potential fundraising size of more than $60 billion. Its valuation is also said to have reached an eye-popping $380 billion.

For everyday investors who can’t participate directly in private fundraising rounds, there may still be ways to “get on the train early” through indirect exposure.

Fundamentals are exploding: why the market is obsessed with Anthropic

Before talking about how to invest, it helps to understand why Anthropic can command such a massive valuation. The latest narrative centers on three pillars:

(1) Exponential revenue growth

Anthropic’s annualized revenue has reportedly surpassed $30 billion, up more than 2x from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025.

It also reportedly has 1,000+ enterprise customers spending over $1 million per year on its platform—and that number has doubled since February, signaling strong commercialization.

(2) A compute moat (AI is ultimately a compute war)

Anthropic has signed major compute partnerships with Broadcom and Google. The three companies have expanded their strategic cooperation to secure about 3.5 gigawatts of compute capacity starting in 2027.

Broadcom is developing chips based on Google’s TPU architecture, giving Anthropic an alternative to NVIDIA-based supply. The supply assurance agreement reportedly extends through 2031.

(3) Deep (and potentially scary) technical upside: “Mythos” + Project Glasswing

Anthropic has recently developed an undisclosed “super AI” model called Mythos. Because the model is considered extremely powerful, there’s currently no plan to release it publicly.

To manage risks and prioritize defensive use cases, Anthropic launched a joint initiative called Project Glasswing, inviting tech giants like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft to run internal tests focused on identifying cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

How can investors get indirect exposure and “front-run” the IPO?

Since Anthropic is still some distance away from a public listing (reportedly October), investors looking to participate in the upside typically consider two indirect routes: strategic backers and funds/ETFs that include Anthropic.

1.Buy the public “strategic backers” behind Anthropic

Anthropic’s rise has been fueled by deep-pocketed tech giants providing capital, compute, and distribution. Owning these listed companies can be a straightforward indirect approach:

– $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ : Anthropic’s most important investor and cloud partner, and a participant in Project Glasswing.

– $Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ : Another major backer. Beyond funding, Google is also central to the long-term TPU + compute strategy alongside Broadcom, with cooperation reportedly extending to 2031.

– $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ & $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ : While Microsoft is best known as OpenAI’s key supporter, both Microsoft and NVIDIA are top-tier AI infrastructure leaders and Project Glasswing participants. The two reportedly invested $15 billion in Anthropic last year.

2.Buy funds/ETFs that hold AnthropicBuy the public “strategic backers” behind Anthropic

If you want more direct portfolio exposure, these products are often cited:

– $Fundrise Innovation Fund (VCX.US)$ : Focuses on top private tech companies and AI unicorns. Anthropic is reportedly about 20.7% of the portfolio.

Source: VCX website

– $KraneShares Artificial Intelligence and Technology ETF (AGIX.US)$ : One of the few “standard” ETFs that reportedly holds private-company shares directly, rather than through an SPV. It’s listed on Anthropic’s shareholder register. Expense ratio is 0.99%, and Anthropic weight is about 3%.

Source: AGIX website

– $Destiny Tech100 (DXYZ.US)$ : A NYSE-listed closed-end fund. Earlier this year it reportedly increased exposure via an SPV (Magnitude ANC III), adding up to $100 million in Anthropic—making it one of the more aggressive public-market proxies.

Source: DXYZ website

– $BlackRock Science and Technology Trust II (BSTZ.US)$ : A BlackRock-issued closed-end tech trust using a public + private hybrid strategy. As of 2026 Q3, Anthropic was about 2.42% of total assets.

Source: BSTZ website

Key risks (don’t skip these)

Indirect investing isn’t “free money.” Before trying to position ahead of the IPO, watch three major risks:

1. ETF / fund premium risk (especially for closed-end funds like DXYZ and BSTZ) These vehicles can trade at large premiums to NAV (net asset value). In a hype cycle, you could end up paying $2 for $1 of underlying assets. If sentiment cools or IPO expectations get priced in, the premium can collapse—meaning you can lose money even if Anthropic keeps executing.

2. Performance dilution and weak correlation (when buying mega-caps) Buying AMZN or GOOGL is often the “safer” route—but these are trillion-dollar businesses. Anthropic’s upside may not move the needle much in their overall financials, so the stock price is still driven mainly by their core businesses.

3. Valuation bubble + private/public mismatch risk Anthropic’s post–Series G valuation is said to be $380 billion. Private-market pricing doesn’t always translate cleanly into public-market IPO pricing. If the IPO comes in below expectations—or if macro conditions compress tech multiples—funds and portfolios positioned for a perfect outcome could face sharp drawdowns.

720K Views