What some of Anthropic's backers are reportedly worth before its IPO

Anthropic’s public listing, which is expected this year at a valuation of as much as $2 trillion, is bound to be a windfall for both early-stage and later-stage investors. But even at the company’s latest private market valuation of $965 billion, the stakes held by many of those VCs and early backers already total billions. Here is what some backers in the leading AI lab are worth at that last round’s price, according to Bloomberg.

Key Backers and Their Stakes

• Eric Schmidt: The former Google CEO invested in Anthropic’s Series A in 2021, when the startup was valued at $461 million, according to PitchBook data. Today, Schmidt owns about 1% of the company, and even at its current private valuation, his stake is worth nearly $10 billion.

• Iconiq: The investment outfit wrote a $6 billion check to Anthropic last year when the company was already valued at $183 billion. That massive late-stage bet is now worth $17 billion and has the potential to double at the IPO.

• Menlo Ventures: The VC firm led Anthropic’s Series D and has invested more than $1 billion in the company over time, a stake now worth $14 billion.

• Sequoia: The famed VC firm backed the AI lab for the first time only earlier this year, when the company was already valued at $380 billion. The $3 billion investment gave it about 1% ownership, which means it has already more than doubled its investment.

• Sound Ventures: The firm, launched by Guy Oseary and actor Ashton Kutcher, invested $35 million in its 2023 Series C round and has since funneled an additional $400 million into Anthropic, resulting in a stake that’s worth billions now. (Kutcher left Sound Ventures this year to launch a new VC firm.)

• Spark Capital: The only VC firm known to hold a board seat at Anthropic invested $75 million in that same 2023 Series C round, when it was valued at $5 billion. That position has ballooned more than 90-fold to $7 billion.