Want in on Anthropic Before the IPO? Buy These 8 Stocks

Anthropic is barreling toward what could be the largest IPO in history, with investors and bankers reportedly targeting a valuation near $2 trillion and a raise exceeding $86 billion when the offering launches as soon as mid-October — but retail investors still can't buy Anthropic stock directly.

• What's ahead for MSFT stock?

The next best thing: eight publicly traded companies that already hold direct equity stakes, several of which are big enough to move the parent stock on earnings day.

1. Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)/a> — Anthropic's largest backer committed up to $33 billion total, including a fresh $5 billion tranche tied to an April 2026 deal in which Anthropic agreed to spend more than $100 billion on AWS cloud technology over the next decade. Amazon's 10-Q already booked billions in fair-value gains as notes converted to equity.

2. Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)/a> (NASDAQ:GOOG)/a> — Google invested $13.3 billion since late 2022 and committed up to $40 billion more in cash and Google Cloud TPU capacity. Alphabet's own filings mark its combined Anthropic and SpaceX private stakes at roughly $124 billion./p> div class="bz-read-next-block" data-variant="card" data-news-mode="manual" >

strong> Read Also: a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/options/26/09/61700205/quick-spark-michael-burry-sells-all-nvidia-palantir-december-2026-dated-puts" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Michael Burry Sells All Nvidia, Palantir December 2026-Dated Puts/a> /strong> /p>

3. Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)/a> — Committed up to $5 billion in November 2025 alongside a new Azure compute partnership, part of a broader push to diversify beyond OpenAI.

4. NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)/a> — Pledged up to $10 billion the same week, a deal that helped push Anthropic's valuation toward $350 billion at the time and deepened Nvidia's ties across every major AI lab.

5. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM)/a> — The software giant has invested through Salesforce Ventures in every Anthropic round since 2023, starting with roughly $50 million. The stake is now worth about $5.1 billion, and a $2.6 billion unrealized gain contributed $2.53 to adjusted earnings per share in its fiscal second quarter report, helping send Salesforce shares up 23% in a single session.

6. Zoom Communications (NASDAQ:ZM)/a> — An approximately $97 million bet placed via Zoom Ventures back in May 2023 has ballooned to a $3.13 billion stake as of Zoom's latest quarterly filing.

7. SK Telecom Co Ltd (NYSE:SKM)/a> — The Korean telecom giant's original $100 million check from 2023 has grown into a stake worth roughly $2.5 billion, and management added to the position in 2026 rather than sell ahead of a possible IPO./p> div class="bz-see-more-ranking-block" data-ranking="growth" data-theme="dark" data-variant="basic-2" >

strong> See More: a href="https://www.benzinga.com/screener/top-growth-stocks" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Top Growth Stocks/a> /strong> /p>

8. ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW)/a> — ServiceNow joined Anthropic's $13 billion Series F in September 2025 and followed up with a January 2026 partnership embedding Claude into its workflow-automation platform for enterprise customers.

The Catch: None of these are pure plays — Anthropic exposure sits diluted inside the larger businesses with valuations marked to private funding rounds rather than a public market.

Anthropic's own executives have not confirmed a listing valuation, even as its confidential S-1 moves through SEC review. But for investors unwilling to wait on the sidelines, these eight tickers already have skin in the game./p> div class="bz-read-next-block" data-variant="card" data-news-mode="manual" >

strong> Read Also: a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/26/09/61675416/spacex-stock-shrugs-off-first-2-share-unlocks-will-round-3-break-the-streak" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> SpaceX Stock Shrugs Off First 2 Share Unlocks — Will Round 3 Break the Streak?/a> /strong> /p>

Photo: Shutterstock