Anthropic is fielding preemptive offers to raise roughly $50 billion at a valuation between $850 billion and $900 billion, according to TechCrunch AI, citing half a dozen sources familiar with the matter. The Claude maker is expected to make a final decision on the round at a May board meeting, and this could be its last private fundraise before a potential IPO.
If Anthropic moves forward at those terms, it’ll more than double the $380 billion valuation it set in February. It would also match or surpass OpenAI, which closed an $852 billion post-money round just two months ago.
The Numbers Behind the Hype
Investor appetite isn’t just strong, it’s overflowing. TechCrunch AI reports one institutional investor ready to commit $5 billion still hasn’t managed to land a meeting with CFO Krishna Rao.
The revenue story explains why:
- Annual revenue run rate surpassed $30 billion this month
- Up from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025
- One source says the figure is now closer to $40 billion
- Round size targeted at $40B to $50B, with demand running higher
That’s more than tripling ARR in a few months. Few companies in history have grown that fast at that scale.
Where the Revenue Comes From
Anthropic’s coding business is doing the heavy lifting. As detailed in TechCrunch AI, a large chunk of revenue flows through Claude Code and Cowork, the company’s developer-focused platforms.
Investors believe coding is just the opening act. The next chapters they’re betting on:
- Finance
- Life sciences
- Healthcare
Each one represents a multi-trillion dollar industry where AI agents could displace meaningful portions of knowledge work.
Why This Matters
What stands out here is the speed of the valuation climb. February to May is roughly three months, and the valuation could jump from $380B to $900B in that window. Anthropic declined to comment to TechCrunch AI.
This is significant for three reasons:
- The two-horse race is real. Anthropic and OpenAI are now valued in the same neighborhood. The frontier model market has consolidated into a duopoly at the top, with everyone else fighting for a different tier.
- Coding is the wedge. Claude Code’s traction validates that developer tools are the most monetizable AI use case right now. Expect every foundation model lab to double down here.
- IPO clock is ticking. Sources framing this as potentially the last private round signals public markets are next. That’ll bring quarterly earnings, regulatory scrutiny, and a different kind of pressure.
For practitioners building on Claude, capital this deep means more compute, faster model iterations, and aggressive expansion into new verticals. For competitors, the bar just got raised again.
Anthropic’s board meets in May to make the call. Full reporting available at the original source.