Anthropic told investors its annualized revenue run rate climbed to $65 billion in July, CNBC reported on August 17, a more than sevenfold jump since the close of 2025 and a figure that’s intensifying comparisons with OpenAI ahead of both companies’ expected IPOs.
The trajectory
Per CNBC’s reporting, Anthropic’s run rate moved from roughly $9 billion at the end of 2025 to more than $30 billion in April, $47 billion in May, and $65 billion by the end of July. The company also shared a preliminary second-quarter revenue figure of $11.5 billion with investors, according to the same reporting.
How it compares to OpenAI
OpenAI’s most recently disclosed run rate is $40 billion, from an internal message by co-founder Greg Brockman that Axios reported separately. The two companies may calculate “run rate” differently, which complicates a direct comparison, but the gap is large enough that several outlets framed it as Anthropic overtaking OpenAI on this specific metric.
The IPO context
Anthropic is reportedly meeting with potential new investors ahead of a planned IPO expected in September or October, working with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan on the offering. The company reached a $965 billion valuation after a funding round in May; the new revenue figures give it a fresh data point to defend that number to prospective public-market investors.
Why it matters
None of this comes from an Anthropic press release or a regulatory filing. It’s sourced to what the company told investors privately and what reporters subsequently obtained, so the exact figure should be read as investor-communicated, not audited. That caveat aside, the trajectory itself, not just the single $65 billion number, is the more durable signal: five straight quarters of roughly doubling revenue is harder to fabricate or spin than one flattering data point, and it’s the kind of growth curve that makes a September or October IPO timeline plausible rather than aspirational.
What to watch: whether either company files IPO paperwork before that window closes, and whether audited figures match what’s already been shared with investors.
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