Anthropic IPO to drive blockbuster gains for Iconiq, Spark, GIC

Published Fri, Oct 23, 2026 · 06:37 AM

[NEW YORK] By the time Iconiq made its first investment in Anthropic in 2025, the artificial intelligence developer was valued at US$183 billion – more than almost any other tech startup in the world – and well on its way to becoming an AI juggernaut.

Yet even Iconiq’s later stage bet is now set to bring in massive returns as Anthropic nears its Wall Street debut.

The investment firm, which has pumped more than US$6 billion into Anthropic, owns a stake worth approximately US$17 billion based on the AI company’s most recent US$965 billion private market valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The value of Iconiq’s investment – the largest deal in its history – could double if Anthropic pulls off its public offering at a valuation as high as US$2 trillion, as some expect. 

Anthropic’s imminent public listing is poised to create multibillion-dollar gains for top venture capital firms, technology companies and independent investors that have backed the Claude chatbot maker since its founding in 2021.

The list of winners includes prescient early backers as well as comparative latecomers who benefitted from the company’s rapid ascent and surging valuation over 2026.

Spark Capital, the only venture firm known to have a board director seat at the startup, invested US$75 million in Anthropic in 2023, one person said, marking its largest check ever.

Its stake is now worth US$7 billion at the current valuation, the person said. Sound Ventures, an under-the-radar firm started by talent manager Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, invested US$35 million in that same round at a US$5 billion valuation, another person said.

It has since invested US$400 million across subsequent financings, leading to a stake worth billions of dollars, the person said. The firm is now run by Oseary and Effie Epstein, managing partner. Kutcher stepped down earlier in 2026. 

By contrast, Sequoia Capital, the storied venture firm that made early bets on OpenAI, only cut its first check to Anthropic at the start of 2026.

But the US$3 billion it has put into the startup has given Sequoia a roughly 1 per cent stake, according to a person familiar with the matter, setting it up for a significant return. 

Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC also owns about 1 per cent of Anthropic after investing north of US$4.5 billion in the company, starting with its first investment in 2025, said one person, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.

In August, Anthropic formed a strategic partnership with GIC and Macquarie Asset Management to build data centres.

Anthropic, Sequoia, Iconiq, Sound and GIC declined to comment. Spark did not respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported some details of Spark’s returns. Anthropic is expected to publicly file IPO paperwork in the coming days, kicking off the process for a public offering that could serve as an almost unparalleled wealth creation event – bolstering the net worth of its seven billionaire co-founders and turning many of the company’s thousands of employees into millionaires.

The IPO windfall will also likely reverberate throughout the tech and venture ecosystem, helping to fuel future investments in AI at a moment of heightened concerns about a possible bubble.

Like archrival OpenAI, Anthropic has tapped numerous sources for capital to fund its costly investments in chips, data centres and talent to build better AI models and support growing adoption of its technology.

Some of Anthropic’s biggest suppliers, including Alphabet’s Google, Amazon and Nvidia have invested billions in the startup.

Those deals, which elicited concerns about circular financing arrangements propping up the AI boom, are set to generate substantial returns for the big tech firms.

In its early days, however, Anthropic mostly received backing from wealthy angel investors, such as former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt and disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Schmidt owns around a 1 per cent stake in the company, Bloomberg News has reported, setting him up for one of the largest gains of any individual shareholder.

In 2023, Menlo Ventures became one of the first venture firms to back Anthropic at a moment when the developer was viewed as an underdog to OpenAI with little revenue to speak of.

Menlo Ventures has poured north of US$1 billion into Anthropic, including a US$500 million check to lead Anthropic’s Series D funding round – the venture firm’s largest bet ever.

The venture firm’s position was worth US$14 billion based on the most recent funding round, Bloomberg News has reported. That represents a less than 2 per cent stake, one person said.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, which invested first in Anthropic’s Series D and in subsequent rounds, also has a less than 2 per cent stake, another person said.

The New York Times previously reported on Lightspeed’s stake. (Other major venture investors in Anthropic include Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, Altimeter, Coatue and Greenoaks.)

Representatives for Menlo and Lightspeed declined to comment. “Being contrarian is how you make money,” Menlo partner Venky Ganesan said in a June interview about the firm’s first Anthropic investments. “That was a lonely time; almost nobody wanted to invest.” BLOOMBERG