Anthropic kicks off share sale for staffers of up to US$6 billion

[SAN FRANCISCO] Anthropic is offering some current and former employees the ability to sell shares in the company at a valuation of about US$350 billion, according to sources familiar with the matter, allowing them to cash in at the level of a recent US$30 billion fundraising.

The company has lined up US$5 billion to US$6 billion for the share sale, but the final amount will depend on how many eligible Anthropic employees opt to sell, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The details have not been finalised and could still change.

Anthropic’s latest funding round, completed earlier this month, valued the company at US$380 billion post-money, including the cash investors put in. Anthropic declined to comment on the new share sale.

Outside investors, not Anthropic, will be buying up the insider shares. The deal will be open to current and former employees who have worked at the company for at least 12 months, one of the sources said.

Secondary share sales are an increasingly popular way for startups to give staff a way to benefit from a startup’s valuation growth even without an acquisition or initial public offering (IPO). The tactic has become important in a competitive artificial intelligence hiring landscape, as more large startups choose to stay private longer.

Stripe and SpaceX have also allowed staffers to sell stock. OpenAI, Anthropic’s biggest rival, has routinely done share sales, including a US$6.6 billion secondary at a US$500 billion valuation last year.

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Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX have recently taken steps towards IPOs. BLOOMBERG