Investors Cut Anthropic IPO Valuation to $1.5T as Q3 Revenue Growth Slows to 45%

On October 16, citing four sources familiar with the matter, Reuters reported that some existing investors and those preparing to participate in an IPO are beginning to consider lowering their valuation of Anthropic. This shift comes amid growing market concerns over rising AI financing costs, following the release of Anthropic’s latest financial data.

Three of the sources stated that some investors attended an investor day hosted by Anthropic in San Francisco, where they discussed a valuation of approximately $1.5 trillion (Note from IT Home: equivalent to roughly 10.05 trillion RMB at current exchange rates). Previously, investors had anticipated a valuation of **around$2 trillion** (equivalent to roughly 13.41 trillion RMB) when Anthropic goes public in November.

Anthropic disclosed to potential investors that its Q3 revenue reached $16.8 billion (equivalent to roughly 112.61 billion RMB), representing a 45% quarter-over-quarter increase, and that the company achieved profitability after adjusting for certain financial items.

While these performance figures alleviated some investor concerns regarding the high cost of AI research and development, the slowdown in revenue growth still disappointed some investors. Anthropic’s Q2 revenue stood at $11.6 billion (equivalent to roughly 77.755 billion RMB), more than doubling from Q1, whereas the QoQ growth rate dropped to 45% in Q3.

The market response to Anthropic’s listing could also influence the outlook for the entire AI industry. Investors believe that short-term performance in the AI market depends heavily on whether Anthropic can successfully go public, followed by OpenAI’s planned listing next year.

Investor concerns about Anthropic’s valuation coincide with a global sell-off in tech stocks, impacting AI infrastructure companies, chip manufacturers, and emerging cloud service providers renting out compute power to AI firms. CoreWeave, backed by Nvidia, saw its stock and bond prices plunge on Thursday, reflecting growing market anxiety over the reliance on debt financing for AI infrastructure construction.

If Anthropic’s listing performs poorly, investor worries about the AI infrastructure investment boom may deepen further.

Earlier reports indicated that Anthropic’s revenue in 2025 increased approximately twelvefold compared to the previous year, reaching nearly $4.6 billion (equivalent to roughly 30.834 billion RMB). However, excluding the impact of liability write-downs primarily caused by prior financing, operating losses still exceeded$8 billion (equivalent to roughly 53.624 billion RMB).

Anthropic’s prospectus posits that AI’s impact on the global economy will surpass the transformations brought about by industrialization, electricity, and the internet. The company also disclosed a loss of $42 billion in 2025 (equivalent to roughly 281.525 billion RMB) and projected that significantly more capital will be required for future AI infrastructure development.