Anthropic is setting the stage for a monumental initial public offering, potentially reaching a valuation exceeding $1 trillion. This move was solidified when the company, known for its Claude AI model, submitted the necessary documentation to U.S. regulators earlier this week, marking a significant step toward its anticipated stock market debut.
Interestingly, Anthropic’s announcement comes hot on the heels of SpaceX’s recent IPO prospectus release. SpaceX, a venture spearheaded by Elon Musk, is projected to attain a valuation of $1.75 trillion, underscoring the burgeoning value of technology firms in today’s market. Meanwhile, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has also been making waves with its own plans for a public listing, having recently been valued at $852 billion.
The current surge in interest surrounding artificial intelligence represents a unique opportunity for retail investors eager to engage with this transformative technology on a large scale. However, for investors based in the UK, participating directly in Anthropic’s IPO or SpaceX’s market entry might present challenges. As both companies are launching their offerings in the U.S., accessing these opportunities at their inception may not be straightforward for international investors.
Meanwhile ChatGPT owner OpenAI, recently valued at $852billion, is not far behind with its own listing plans.
As the artificial intelligence (AI) frenzy grips markets, it could offer a rare opportunity for retail investors to gain exposure to the technology at scale.
For investors in Britain, however, direct participation in Anthropic’s IPO and SpaceX’s proposed stock market listing may not be a straightforward option at their initial launch due to the floats being US-based.
It is not normally possible for UK investors to buy US stuck at the point of initial public offering. They could buy shares in the secondary market after float but if the price rises they will not catch the initial pop, although if stock falls they also won’t lose out.
But there are still some ways to secure a stake in Anthropic through investment trusts that specialise in backing high-growth private companies, other firms that own some of it, and even index funds.
Big deal: Anthropic has filed for a huge $1trillion initial public offering in New York
Investment trust options for UK investors
The most accessible route for investors in Britain to secure a stake in Anthropic would be via London-listed investment trusts.
Unlike open-ended funds, investment trusts can hold stakes in private companies and capture high levels of growth during their earliest stages.
In April, three trusts managed by Baillie Gifford more than doubled their valuation of Anthropic but did not specify the exact valuation it had put on the AI firm.
Scottish Mortgage, Britain’s largest investment trust managed by Baillie Gifford, has become a well-known backer of these types of companies.
It is best-known for its investment in SpaceX, which is now worth just under £3billion according to its own most recent estimates, and by far its biggest holding.
Anthropic is Scottish Mortgage’s tenth largest holding, at 2.6 per cent of the portfolio, having first invested in the AI firm in 2021 for an undisclosed sum.
‘Anthropic has delivered one of the most remarkable growth stories in the history of enterprise software,’ the trust said. ‘It has had a revenue trajectory with no real precedent in business-to-business technology.’
Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust is another option for British investors with an interest in Anthropic.
The £912million listed fund said in April that its position in the AI firm had increased from around 3.3 per cent to 7.5 per cent. It is the third largest holding behind SpaceX and payments firm Stripe, which is also expected to list in the near future.
Anthropic was Baillie Gifford’s Schiehallion Fund’s fourth largest holding as of 30 April 2026, making it another option for British investors.
The trust, which holds 87.7 per cent of its portfolio in private assets, has invested in similar high-growth companies to Scottish Mortgage and US Growth, such as SpaceX, Databricks, and ByteDance.
While Baillie Gifford has raised its valuation of Anthropic across three trusts, it is unlikely to have done so in line with a $1trillion valuation.
At the time, James Carthew, head of investment company research at QuotedData said that it ‘needs to be based on something more tangible than that. So there may be more upside to come’.
Invest in tech firms which have backed Anthropic
Aside from investment trusts, British investors can also invest in tech firms that have backed Anthropic, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia.
In April, Amazon agreed to invest up to $25billion in Anthropic, on top of the $8billion it has already ploughed into the AI business in recent years.
According to legal filings, Google has a 14 per cent stake in Anthropic.
In November 2025, Microsoft announced it was investing $5billion in Anthropic, while Nvidia unveiled a $10billion investment.
Meanwhile, index providers, including S&P and Nasdaq, are currently amending their rules to allow faster inclusion of large-scale IPOs, meaning investors holding global or US equity tracker funds may gain passive exposure within months of listing.
Is it a good time to invest in AI?
There is no doubt that there has been a frenzy across markets, as adoption of AI tools accelerates and firms ramp up investment.
For example, Anthropic’s unprecedented growth is partly due to an acceleration in its annualised revenue from $9billion to $30billion this year.
However, analysts have long-warned that a spate of high-profile mega-cap IPOs could fuel concerns that parts of the market are entering ‘bubble territory’.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: ‘The huge investor appetite expected for these flotations underlines how strongly AI enthusiasm is creating mega valuations across the US technology sector.
She added: ‘However, much of their explosive growth has happened away from public markets.
‘By the time these firms eventually float, a large share of the value creation has often already been captured by early private investors, leaving retail investors at risk of jumping in after much of the lift-off has already occurred.’
For a few years, rapidly growing AI businesses have operated in a private-market environment where specialist investors could support hefty capital requirements, long development cycles and governance structures that would be difficult to replicate in many listed companies.
William Samengo-Turner, A&O Shearman’s Technology Sector Lead, said: ‘An IPO introduces a different reality: broader ownership, greater scrutiny and investors looking for a clearer line of sight to long-term economics.
‘That’s why an Anthropic listing would be about far more than Anthropic itself. It would be the first real attempt to establish a public-market valuation framework for frontier AI.’
He added: ‘Anthropic would offer one of the first opportunities to invest directly in a company building frontier models at scale.’
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