Bob Peck, a New York Angels board member, sees Anthropic’s initial public offering (IPO) as a tech catalyst. He says Alphabet’s record selloff has investors looking to the Anthropic IPO for an AI valuation marker.
However, large investors reportedly want Anthropic priced at the low end of a $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion range. The final price could become a yardstick for hyperscalers, cloud giants worth $2 trillion to $4 trillion, per Peck.
Can One Listing Settle the AI Valuation Debate?
Peck said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that tech sentiment is slightly more cautious than six months ago. He tied Alphabet’s slide to weak AI monetization, Intel’s to softer PC demand, and Apple’s to margin pressure.
Alphabet fell more than 12% on Oct. 29, its worst day on record, erasing roughly $500 billion.
Meanwhile, Anthropic’s S-1 registration statement reports net revenue retention of about 900%, or nine times prior-year spending by existing customers. In contrast, enterprise software peers Palantir and Snowflake report 157% and 126%.
Even so, PitchBook senior analyst Harrison Rolfes expects that 900% figure to shrink fast from a small base, Morningstar reported.
Does the Math Support a $1.5 Trillion Price?
Peck said his valuation math draws partly on analyst estimates for xAI, the AI arm SpaceX absorbed in February.
“I think the valuation numbers make sense based on the back of the envelope, math you’ve seen me do.”
Bob Peck, board member, New York Angels, via CNBC
Jay Ritter directs the University of Florida’s IPO Initiative. Historically, only 14 of 4,110 IPOs from 1980 to 2024 sold above 40 times trailing sales, Fortune reported.
Buyers of those 14 at the offer price trailed the broader market by an average 15.4% within three years.
Still, at $1.5 trillion, Anthropic would trade near 43 times trailing sales. Compute costs also outpaced revenue in the third quarter, rising 77% against 47% growth, the amended IPO filing showed.
OpenAI, which Peck expects to list in 2027, has already cut its funding target to $20 billion from $30 billion. Anthropic’s final price may therefore set a reference for the AI listings behind it.
