Anthropic nears $1t valuation, overtakes OpenAI

Anthropic’s secondary-market valuation has climbed to about US$1 trillion on Forge Global, above OpenAI’s roughly US$880 billion on the same platform.

Limited share supply and strong buyer demand have driven up prices for the private AI startup, said Kelly Rodriques, Forge CEO.

The jump follows Anthropic’s January 2026 funding round at US$380 billion led by GIC and Coatue, while some recent secondary offers valued the company between US$960 billion and US$1.15 trillion.

Because Anthropic and OpenAI are still private, most investors buy shares from employees or early backers.

Anthropic attracts multiple bids a day while interest in OpenAI has cooled, with bids below its US$852 billion March funding valuation, traders told the publication.

🔗 Source: Business Insider

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Anthropic’s growth is reshaping how investors value AI

Anthropic sits behind one of the fastest revenue climbs in tech.
Anthropic is projected to pass US$19 billion in annual revenue, with US$6 billion added in February 2026 alone 1.
That would more than double the AI startup’s run rate from late 2025, when its annual recurring revenue target stood at US$9 billion 1.
Much of the jump comes from business demand for Claude Code, a coding tool that helps software developers write and manage code 1.
Anthropic has 300,000 customers and about 2,946 employees. That scale leads investors to view it as highly efficient per employee, alongside OpenAI 2.

The private-market race points to changing investor views

The fight for shares in private markets contrasts with public markets, where NVIDIA, the leading AI chipmaker, trades at its lowest forward price-to-earnings ratio in years 3.
Private buyers may be paying more for growth, or public investors may be pricing AI hardware and infrastructure too low 3.
Tools such as Claude Code are gaining support because they bring in revenue from software development and automation work 1.
That trend is pushing AI companies to build specialized agents, or AI tools built for specific tasks.
Rising secondary prices are also fueling expectations for a landmark initial public offering (IPO), with some projecting Anthropic could list in the fourth quarter of 2026 3.