Anthropic has surged to a trillion-dollar valuation on secondary markets, overtaking OpenAI

Desperate buyers are in a race to secure a dwindling supply of secondary shares in Anthropic, driving the AI company's valuation on some sites to $1 trillion, a price that would have seemed unthinkable even a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, traders Business Insider spoke with are seeing slumping demand for OpenAI, which is now trading at a discount to Anthropic, despite OpenAI being valued at $852 billion, more than twice Anthropic's valuation in their most recent funding rounds.

Anthropic's valuation now hovers at around $1 trillion on Forge Global, a leading private marketplace exchange, its CEO Kelly Rodriques told Business Insider. OpenAI's valuation on the platform is $880 billion, a slight uptick from its March funding round.

Since Anthropic and OpenAI are not yet public companies, the vast majority of investors are forced to buy via secondary markets, with existing stock in the companies sold by current or former employees or early investors. Neither company responded to a request for comment.

One Anthropic shareholder recently offered to unload shares at a $1.15 trillion valuation, according to Ken Sawyer, cofounder and managing partner at Saints Capital, a venture secondary firm.

A "very well known growth fund" offered to buy Anthropic shares at a $1.05 trillion valuation, Jesse Leimgruber, founder of OpenHome, posted on X this week.

"Absolutely wild," he said.

Some interested buyers have gotten more creative, offering to sell their home in exchange for Anthropic shares at a valuation above $800 billion.

A feverish demand for shares

It was just three months ago when Anthropic closed a funding round led by GIC and Coatue, valuing the company at $380 billion.

Since then, a feverish demand has overtaken Silicon Valley for shares in Anthropic, as investors have been wowed by its torrid revenue growth and momentum around its AI-powered coding assistant, Claude code.

"It's been an epic run for Anthropic," said Glen Anderson, CEO of Rainmaker Securities, a merchant bank focused on private securities transactions. "Everybody wants to be part of a generational opportunity in AI, and right now, Anthropic is in the pole position."

The company has fielded multiple offers from VCs valuing it at as much as $800 billion in recent weeks, Business Insider reported last week.

Anderson just received an offer to buy shares in Anthropic at a $960 billion valuation, a price he says would have been unthinkable even a few weeks ago. But before he can even evaluate the deal, he expects it to be snapped up by someone else.

"We get an offer, and then within a day someone else has already bought it," he said. "There are almost no sellers."

Those fortunate enough to own Anthropic shares say they are getting hounded with multiple offers a day to sell.

"We receive daily offers from the ridiculous to the sublime," said Bradley Horowitz, a general partner at Wisdom Ventures, which was an early investor in both Anthropic and OpenAI. "I barely open those emails because we're not interested. We are playing a long game."

Much of the demand is driven by FOMO more than market fundamentals, with investors at venture firms and family offices feeling like they need to own Anthropic shares no matter the price, according to Anderson.

"It's almost less about the return than being about to say they're an Anthropic investor," he said. "That drives up the price."

Meanwhile, Anderson has seen little demand for OpenAI shares this year, with bids lower than its last round of $852 billion.

"OpenAI has been a very tepid market," he said. "The sentiment has certainly shifted to Anthropic.