Anthropic and OpenAI Keep Other Companies Off the IPO Market

Anthropic's highly anticipated IPO is creating a wait-and-see dynamic across the public markets, with many companies reluctant to list before the AI firm and OpenAI do. At a San Francisco event, investor enthusiasm for Anthropic stock was muted, with few hands raised for a $3 trillion valuation. The IPO market has seen record dollar volume this year, driven by SpaceX, but the number of offerings is thin and some candidates have stumbled, including Oura pulling its IPO. Legal experts say companies are waiting for Anthropic and OpenAI to test public investor appetite, as private AI valuations have soared. Nasdaq officials note capital is available, but investors now demand cash efficiency and discipline over growth at all costs. While biotech has seen 22 IPOs this year, consumer and software companies may remain sidelined until the frontier labs go public, making Anthropic's debut a key test of AI's financial viability.