Bloomberg says Anthropic’s IPO is poised to list as early as October, with three major investment banks arranging meetings between investors and executives

The banks arranging Anthropic’s IPO of the company behind the Claude model are scheduling meetings between investors and executives, Bloomberg says. The company behind the Claude model could be listed as early as October. All three Wall Street banking giants—Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase—are involved in underwriting.
（Background: Flash News》Anthropic “secretly files S-1” to kick off its IPO! Valuation nearing one trillion dollars to take on OpenAI）
（Background info: Anthropic completes a $65 billion Series H round, valuing it at $965B, surpassing OpenAI）

Bloomberg reports that the banks hosting the Anthropic IPO have scheduled meetings between investors and executives to pave the way for a listing later on. These kinds of informal investor meetings are a relatively early but meaningful step in the IPO process. Banks typically first probe how much appetite the market has for the company and how the valuation should be set through one-on-one or small group meetings, before moving on to the formal roadshow.

Plainly put, before going public, they take executives one by one to meet large investment institutions to gauge subscription interest. After the roadshow ends, the deal is then priced and the shares are listed for trading. Anthropic last month already secretly filed its IPO prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). That means the company first privately submits the materials needed for listing review to regulators, without having to publicly disclose detailed financial figures for the time being.

Even though, as of now, Anthropic’s official spokesperson has still not disclosed the actual listing timeline, and the spokesperson also declined to comment on the news about this investor meeting, Bloomberg says Anthropic could be listed on the public markets as early as October.

Who’s keeping the books on this one?

Behind this IPO case are three of Wall Street’s biggest revenue banks—Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase—all of which are involved in the planning.

The AI spending boom has driven a clear rebound in profitability for investment banks across Wall Street. Investors are eager for channels to both fund AI infrastructure and bet on—or hedge—this theme. Underwriting deals like one involving Anthropic are among the best entry tickets banks have.

Anthropic’s own story is also quite dramatic. The company was founded in 2021 by a group of executives and researchers who left OpenAI, sparked by their concerns about the direction of OpenAI’s development. Years later, Anthropic achieved early success in enterprise sales with the popular programming assistant Claude Code, gradually solidifying its footing. In May this year, Anthropic completed a round of funding totaling $65 billion, bringing its valuation to $965B, marking the first time it surpassed OpenAI’s $852B valuation.

At least on paper, the people who once left the company are now, in a twist of fate, sitting in the top seats at the table.

Who rings the bell first?

Even more intriguing is the race between Anthropic and OpenAI over listing timing. OpenAI also secretly submitted an IPO application to the SEC in June, but so far has not released any further details. Multiple foreign media outlets previously reported that OpenAI’s plan to list in the fall of 2026 has been pushed back to 2027.

This means that if Anthropic really can list around October, it is almost certain to become a publicly traded company earlier than OpenAI. While being first to list may look like a difference of timing only, within the context of the AI boom, if market enthusiasm for AI cools later and valuations get revised, the party that lists first may lock in several years of price gains into its stock price, while the party that lists later would face the risk of ringing the bell only when the atmosphere turns cold.

In other words, it’s not just a question of who gets the listing gavel first—it’s about who can realize valuation into liquidity at the right moment. What Anthropic is doing this time is essentially placing a bet on “now,” rather than waiting for the market to give a clearer answer on its own.