- Anthropic forecasts revenue of about $190 billion-$200 billion in 2028.
- The company’s potential IPO valuation will be based on this figure, not current performance.
- Investors are using an enterprise value-to-revenue multiple.
Anthropic forecasts that its revenue could reach about $190 billion-$200 billion in 2028, and investors are already using these figures to value the company ahead of a potential stock market debut. Reuters reported, citing four people familiar with Anthropic’s finances and IPO preparations.
This forecast significantly exceeds the annual revenue run rate of $47 billion the company disclosed in May. As a result, Anthropic’s future valuation will largely depend not on current financial results, but on the company’s ability to deliver massive growth over the next two years.
Earlier, Anthropic filed a confidential IPO application with the SEC, marking the first formal step toward going public. The timing and terms of the offering, however, remain dependent on market conditions and the regulator’s decision.
Anthropic Will Be Valued Based on Future Revenue
According to the outlet’s sources, bankers and potential investors are valuing Anthropic using an enterprise value-to-revenue (EV/Revenue) multiple, applying projected financial metrics.
This approach is common among fast-growing high-tech companies that have not yet achieved stable profitability. At the same time, valuing an IPO two years out is less typical.
The reason is the scale and pace of Anthropic’s business expansion, as well as the enormous costs of building AI infrastructure. The company is spending heavily on:
- GPUs and other compute capacity
- Training and operating AI models
- Inference
- Hiring staff;
- Expanding infrastructure
Investors are effectively betting that as Anthropic grows, its revenue will increase faster than its costs, and its operating margin will gradually expand.
The company’s momentum already shows the scale of this growth. By the end of 2025, Anthropic’s annual revenue run rate stood at around $9 billion, and by May 2026 it had surpassed $47 billion. The company also projected at least $10.9 billion in revenue for Q2 2026 — more than double the previous quarter — and expected its first quarterly operating profit of $559 million.
According to the company, its annual revenue run rate grew more than tenfold each year for three years through early 2026.
That kind of momentum explains why potential investors are willing to value Anthropic based on financial metrics the company may only achieve in 2028.
Palantir, Cloudflare, and SpaceX Became Benchmarks
As Anthropic prepares for its analyst day, investors are also comparing the company to public businesses that have similar growth characteristics or a strong connection to AI.
Sources cite the following benchmarks:
- Palantir — the company is valued at roughly 53 times the annual revenue expected in 2026
- Cloudflare — about 41.6 times projected annual revenue
- SpaceX — also about 41.6 times projected revenue for 2026
Each of these companies provides investors with a different benchmark for valuing Anthropic. Palantir is seen as an example of a fast-growing business with significant AI exposure. Cloudflare serves as a benchmark for a high-tech company that combines software and infrastructure, while SpaceX illustrates a valuation model largely based on the future scale of the business.
A similar approach has already been used ahead of the IPOs of other fast-growing companies. In particular, Cerebras Systems investors factored in a 2028 revenue forecast before its 2026 market debut. In SpaceX’s case, forecasts extended out to 2029 even before the company’s record IPO in June.
Against this backdrop, Anthropic’s valuation will depend on whether the Claude developer can turn massive investments in compute infrastructure and model development into sustainable revenue growth.
“Could they get a $2 trillion valuation, yeah they could and I just wonder if it would stay there over time,” said David Merkel, head of investment firm Aleph Investments.
He also questioned the scale of the economic impact from AI development:
“Does it really produce so much additional productivity […] These are just questions that we have to ask if we were thinking of pricing this, buying this.“
As a reminder, Anthropic’s preparations for a listing became known in March this year. As early as April, analysts at The Kobeissi Letter put the company’s preliminary valuation at more than $1 trillion.
Later, in May, the Buidlpad platform decided to run a pre-IPO for the Antropic project, but it failed to raise the planned $3 million. More details in the article:
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