Early bet, massive payoff: Anthropic IPO may value Krishna Rao's equity stake at Rs 6,600 crore, up 57 times

Indian-origin Krishna Rao, chief financial officer of artificial intelligence company Anthropic, could see the notional value of his equity holding rise to nearly Rs 6,600 crore if the Claude chatbot maker's proposed initial public offering (IPO) is priced at the midpoint of its indicated range. At the proposed midpoint of $74 per share, Rao's holding would be valued at approximately $703 million, implying nearly 57-fold price appreciation over the $1.30 reference price of the early equity.

Anthropic's registration statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 10 showed that Rao beneficially owned 94.97 lakh shares in the company as of September 30, 2026. The company has proposed an IPO price range of $70-$78 per share, placing the midpoint at $74. The estimated rupee value of Rao's holding is based on an assumed dollar-rupee exchange rate of Rs 94.

However, the estimated $703 million valuation should not be viewed as realised wealth. Rao's beneficial ownership includes shares underlying exercisable stock options, and the calculation does not account for the costs associated with exercising those options. The nearly 57-fold appreciation is based on the comparison between the $1.30 reference price and the proposed IPO midpoint, rather than a confirmed return on his personal investment.


Rao, who joined Anthropic as chief financial officer in 2024, is not offering any of his shares for sale in the proposed IPO. With nearly two decades of experience across consulting, investment and technology companies, he oversees the company's financial operations and has played a role in its fundraising efforts and preparations for its public market debut.

He is also participating in the investor roadshow, meeting prospective investors at events hosted by Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs ahead of the planned listing next week, The New York Times reported.

Anthropic targets up to $90.4 billion in fundraising

The potential valuation of Rao's holding comes as Anthropic prepares for a proposed public offering that could rank among the largest in market history. The Claude chatbot maker is targeting fundraising of up to $90.4 billion through its IPO and a concurrent private placement, which could give the company a fully diluted valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion.

According to its SEC filing, Anthropic has proposed a base IPO offering of up to $64.4 billion, with shares priced between $70 and $78 apiece. The company plans to issue 801.4 million shares, while existing investors are looking to sell another 23.6 million shares.

Demand for the offering has already exceeded the shares available by multiple times, driven by large institutional indications of interest, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

ALSO READ: Anthropic’s IPO is said to be multiple times oversubscribed

Anthropic is also stepping up its investor outreach through a series of events ahead of the listing. These include a live-streamed event featuring CEO Dario Amodei and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, according to Bloomberg.

Anthropic co-founders to sell shares worth $1.75 billion

Rao is not the only Anthropic insider whose equity holding is drawing attention ahead of the proposed listing. The company's seven co-founders, including CEO Dario Amodei and his sister Daniela Amodei, are expected to sell shares worth approximately $250 million each in the IPO.

Their combined share sales could total around $1.75 billion. Despite the proposed sales, each co-founder's remaining stake is estimated to be worth roughly $18 billion at the midpoint of the IPO price range.

Amazon, Google stakes could be worth $411 billion

Anthropic's existing institutional investors also stand to see substantial paper valuations from the proposed listing. Amazon and Alphabet, Google's parent company, are among the company's largest investors. Their combined holdings could be worth approximately $411 billion if the IPO is priced at the upper end of the proposed range, according to Reuters calculations based on the filing.

Separately, seven technology companies — Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron and TSMC — have agreed to purchase $26 billion worth of non-voting shares at the IPO price through a private placement.

ALSO READ: Anthropic IPO: Amazon, Google could make staggering over USD 400 billion from Claude maker's successful listing. Here's how

Other investors include Founders Fund, the venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was among Anthropic's earliest external investors, committing tens of millions of dollars to the company's first funding round in 2021.

In May, Anthropic raised $65 billion at a valuation of $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI in valuation for the first time.

Disclosure: This article has been written by Kumar Gaurav, who is not a Sebi-registered Research Analyst or an Investment Adviser. Gaurav and their ‘relative(s)’ (as defined under Section 2(77) of the Companies Act, 2013) do not hold any financial interest in the companies mentioned in this article as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective Sebi-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of The Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment. Brokerage disclaimers here