Anthropic Takes Its IPO to Japan, Seeking Up to $3.5 Billion as OpenAI Trims Its Private Round

Written by Methodical Millions
AI and markets illustration for Anthropic's Japan IPO filing

The two biggest AI labs are raising money in very different ways this week, and the contrast says a lot about where AI capital is heading.

By Methodical Jon | November 2, 2026

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, plans to sell up to ¥552.9 billion (about $3.5 billion USD) of shares to investors in Japan as part of its upcoming U.S. initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing reported by Reuters on Monday, November 2nd 2026. The news lands just days after OpenAI cut the target for its latest private funding round from about $30 billion USD to about $20 billion USD.

What happened

The Japanese filing names Mizuho Securities as the lead manager for the Japan portion of the sale, with Goldman Sachs, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities among the firms handling orders, according to Bloomberg via The Straits Times and Reuters. The filing says the money raised in Japan will go toward working capital, operating expenses and capital spending.

Japan isn't the only stop. Investors in Australia, Canada and parts of Europe will also be able to buy into the initial share sale, Bloomberg reported. The filing didn't say how big the full IPO will be or what it values the company at. Reuters has reported that some investors have discussed a valuation of about $1.5 trillion USD.

For scale, Reuters notes that Japanese investors bought $2.2 billion USD of shares in SpaceX's $75 billion USD IPO in June, the largest IPO ever. If Anthropic fills its full Japanese allocation, it would beat that figure by about 59%.

The backstory: Anthropic's S-1

Anthropic filed its S-1 registration statement with the SEC on October 26th and has applied to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker ANT. The numbers are huge in both directions:

  • Revenue: $16.29 billion USD in the first half of 2026, up from $1.16 billion USD a year earlier, per Fortune and VentureBeat.
  • Net loss: $80.7 billion USD over the same six months. That headline is misleading on its own: about $72.4 billion USD of it is a non-cash accounting charge tied to the rising value of convertible notes and similar instruments.
  • Operating loss: just $693 million USD, down from $2.1 billion USD a year earlier. On an adjusted basis Anthropic says it made about $1.6 billion USD in operating income.

Meanwhile, at OpenAI

OpenAI is still raising money privately. The Financial Times reported, and CNBC confirmed, that the ChatGPT maker is now seeking up to $20 billion USD at a $1.25 trillion USD post-money valuation, down from an earlier pitch of $30 billion USD at $1.4 trillion USD. Reuters, citing the FT, said some investors reduced their allocations and the first close is expected to come in under $20 billion USD. A UAE consortium including state-backed MGX is expected to be the largest participant, with Founders Fund, Coatue, Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz also expected to join.

The cut came as tech stocks sold off. U.S. stocks on Friday had their worst day since June as investors dumped AI-related names, AP reported.

Why it matters

For years the biggest AI companies lived entirely in private markets, where only venture funds, sovereign wealth funds and big tech partners could buy in. Anthropic's IPO changes that. By opening allocations in Japan, Australia, Canada and Europe, it's going straight to everyday investors around the world, not just a few large checks.

The timing is the interesting part. OpenAI just learned that private investors have a ceiling, even at a trillion-dollar valuation. Anthropic is betting that public markets, with millions of buyers, can absorb more. If the ANT listing goes well, expect OpenAI and others to speed up their own IPO plans. If it struggles, the whole AI funding machine may have to reprice.

The money lesson

1. Read past the headline number. An $80.7 billion loss sounds like a disaster until you see that most of it is a non-cash charge. Always look at operating results and cash flow before reacting to a big red number.

2. Valuation is a negotiation, not a fact. OpenAI pitched $1.4 trillion and settled toward $1.25 trillion when buyers pushed back. Your startup, your house and your side business are worth what someone will actually pay.

3. Access is the product. Anthropic is spreading its IPO across multiple countries to widen its buyer base. More buyers usually means better pricing, whether you're selling shares or selling a product.

4. Hype cycles cut both ways. A tech selloff can shrink a funding round in a week. If you're buying IPO shares, size the position so a bad first month doesn't hurt you.

Going public isn't the only way to raise money, and the tradeoffs haven't changed much. We broke down how companies list on the public market in Episode 31 - IPOs and SPACs, which is good background on what Anthropic is doing right now. For the private-funding side of the story, which is where OpenAI still is, listen to Episode 32 - Raising Capital.

At the time of writing, Anthropic hasn't set a price range or share count for its IPO, and OpenAI's round is still open, so final terms could change. This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice.

Sources:

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This article may be AI-assisted and is subject to errors and omissions.

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