Anthropic hits $1 trillion implied valuation on Forge secondary market — secondary buyers pricing Anthropic above OpenAI
TL;DR: Anthropic’s valuation is hovering around $1 trillion on secondary markets per Kelly Rodriques, CEO of Forge Global (the largest private-company share trading platform), speaking to Business Insider in early June 2026. Trajectory: Series G at $380B (February 2026, GIC + Coatue led) → Series H at $965B (May 28, 2026) → ~$1T secondary-market pricing (early June 2026) — a 2.6× jump above the Series G primary in roughly four months. Revenue trajectory matching the valuation move: $9B annualized end of 2025 → $30B by March 2026 (a 233% one-quarter increase) → $47B run-rate disclosed in May. First: Anthropic now exceeds OpenAI on secondary-market pricing. Critical caveat: secondary markets price illiquid minority shares with no board rights, no force-IPO ability, and no guarantee of liquidity. A $1T secondary print is not equivalent to a $1T primary round or a $1T IPO listing — but it’s the leading indicator institutional capital watches before committing primary capital.
What’s reported
The reporting from The Next Web, Yahoo Finance, Decrypt, TechFundingNews, Tom’s Hardware, and TradingKey — all citing Forge Global CEO Kelly Rodriques speaking to Business Insider — confirms:
- Secondary-market valuation: hovering around $1 trillion
- Source authority: Forge Global is the largest secondary-market platform for private-company shares; Rodriques is the CEO
- Secondary venue: Forge Global and similar platforms (Hiive, EquityBee, etc.)
- Comparison to OpenAI: Anthropic now exceeds OpenAI’s secondary-market valuation
- Driver: revenue trajectory (233% one-quarter increase end-of-2025 to March 2026)
The valuation trajectory
| Date | Anthropic valuation | Type |
|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | $380B | Series G primary (GIC + Coatue lead) |
| May 28, 2026 | $965B post-money | Series H primary close |
| Early June 2026 | ~$1T | Forge Global secondary-market |
| TBD (Q3-Q4 2026) | TBD | Public-market IPO (S-1 filed June 1) |
The trajectory shows a 2.6× jump from the February 2026 Series G primary to today’s secondary-market pricing — in roughly four months. That’s an unusually steep mark-up cycle even for AI valuations.
The revenue trajectory underlying it:
| Period | Anthropic annualized revenue |
|---|---|
| End of 2025 | ~$9B |
| March 2026 | $30B (233% Q-over-Q increase) |
| May 2026 | $47B run-rate (per Anthropic’s own Q2 disclosure) |
A company growing run-rate revenue from $9B to $47B in five months is genuinely unprecedented. Secondary markets responding by pricing the equity 2.6× higher than the latest primary round is unsurprising in that context.
Why this matters structurally
Three reads.
1. Anthropic now leads OpenAI on every valuation measure. Through 2024-2025, OpenAI was the dominant private AI company by every metric. Today:
| Measure | Anthropic | OpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Last primary valuation | $965B (May 28) | $852B |
| Secondary market | ~$1T | Below $1T (the “Beats OpenAI” framing) |
| S-1 filing | First (June 1) | Second (June 8) |
| Projected near-term operating profit | Yes (Q2 $559M projected) | No ($85B 2028 burn projected per WSJ) |
| Run-rate revenue | $47B | ~$24B (per Fortune Q1 2026 reporting) |
The “OpenAI vs Anthropic” framing that dominated 2024-2025 has structurally inverted in 2026.
2. The 2.6× primary-to-secondary mark-up signals public-markets pricing pressure. Public-markets IPO pricing typically lands somewhere between the last primary valuation and the prevailing secondary-market price. If Anthropic’s primary is $965B and secondaries are pricing $1T, the public-markets pricing range gravitates toward $1-1.2T as the realistic listing valuation when the S-1 process completes.
For comparison, OpenAI’s last primary was $852B. If OpenAI’s secondaries price below $1T (per the “Anthropic Beats OpenAI” framing), OpenAI’s public-markets pricing range likely lands at $850-950B. This is the IPO pricing differential that will be visible by Q3-Q4 2026.
3. The “frantic investor interest” framing is institutionally meaningful. Tom’s Hardware and TFN both describe the secondary-market dynamic as “frantic investor interest.” Secondary-market platforms operate as price-discovery mechanisms for non-public assets. When demand substantially exceeds supply at a given price point, the price moves until equilibrium. A $1T print at Forge Global is the market clearing at that level, not a one-off transaction.
For Anthropic’s June 1 S-1 filing process, this is favorable signaling. When the public S-1 lands in late July/August, institutional investors evaluating the offering will have a $1T secondary-market reference point already established. That anchors the public-markets pricing conversation upward.
What it means for Claude users
Practically: nothing changes operationally. Anthropic’s secondary-market valuation doesn’t affect your Claude Pro or Max subscription, model access, or product features.
What it does change is the structural context for Anthropic as a company. A $1T-valued private AI company is positioned to:
- Attract the best AI research talent (equity value + brand)
- Negotiate compute pricing aggressively (size + financial stability = leverage)
- Win enterprise deals against any competitor’s “financial stability” objection
- Set IPO pricing benchmarks that anchor the broader AI valuation landscape
For Pick Right readers tracking the AI competitive landscape, this is the moment Anthropic structurally became the dominant private AI company by every measure investors care about. OpenAI’s response — the $4B Deployment Company, the AWS Bedrock GA, the Frontier Governance Framework — is the correct strategic shape, but the gap is now wider than it has been at any point since OpenAI’s founding.
The honest caveats
Three caveats:
Secondary-market valuations are categorically different from primary fundraising rounds. Secondaries price illiquid minority shares with no guarantee of liquidity, no board rights, and no ability to force a sale or IPO. A $1T secondary print does not mean Anthropic could raise $1T in a primary round, nor that the IPO would price at $1T.
Secondary-market trading volumes are small. A “$1T implied valuation” is the price at which limited trades cleared, not a full-market consensus. The volume cleared at this price is likely a few hundred million dollars at most — meaningful as price discovery, but not transparent like public markets.
Forge Global is an interested party. Forge Global makes money by facilitating secondary-market trades. CEO Rodriques talking up Anthropic valuations to Business Insider is consistent with Forge’s commercial interest. The reporting should be treated as credible — Rodriques’ position gives him real visibility — but it’s not an Anthropic-confirmed or third-party-audited figure.
What it changes for Pick Right readers tomorrow
If you’re a Claude Pro subscriber, nothing changes. If you’re tracking the AI competitive landscape, Anthropic has now passed OpenAI on every measurable valuation dimension for the first time in the labs’ histories.
For broader context, see the Claude review, the Series H + Opus 4.8 article, the Anthropic S-1 filing, the Q2 first profitable quarter coverage, the Apollo/Blackstone $36B chip-debt article, and the OpenAI confidential S-1 actual June 8 filing for the broader IPO-pipeline and valuation thread.
Sources
- Anthropic reportedly hits $1 trillion implied valuation on secondary markets (TNW)
- Anthropic Beats OpenAI on Secondary Markets With $1 Trillion Implied Valuation (Yahoo Finance / Decrypt)
- Anthropic overtakes OpenAI with $1T secondary market valuation after 233% revenue surge (TFN)
- Anthropic surpasses biggest rival OpenAI in secondary market valuation (Tom's Hardware)
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