Anthropic, the US company behind the Claude AI assistant, is expected to start trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York on Thursday 19 November. UK savers can apply for shares before then through mainstream investment platforms. Applications close on Wednesday 18 November. Shares can be held in an ISA or a self-invested personal pension (SIPP), as well as an ordinary trading account.
The offer is open to anyone resident and physically located in the UK, so it covers all four nations. Hargreaves Lansdown has set a minimum of £250 and AJ Bell £1,000, according to City AM. Applying does not guarantee you any shares. Popular share sales are often cut back, and you will not know the price you pay until after the deadline.
A worked example. Say you apply with £1,000. At an illustrative exchange rate of $1.30 to the pound, that is about $1,300. If the shares price within the expected $70 to $78 range, you would get roughly 16 to 18 shares. If demand means your application is cut to a fifth, about £200 would be invested and £800 returned, without interest. If the shares then fell 30 per cent, a £1,000 holding would be worth about £700. Currency moves matter too. If the pound rose from $1.30 to $1.40 and the share price stayed the same, that £1,000 would be worth about £929.
What is on offer
Anthropic set an indicative price range of $70 to $78 a share on 10 November in an updated filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It plans to sell 825 million shares. At the top of the range, that would raise up to $64.4bn, Fortune and CNBC reported. The shares will trade under the ticker ANT.
The valuation depends on how you count the shares. Counting every share that could exist once options and convertible stock are included, known as the fully diluted basis, the top of the range values the company at about $1.4tn. Counting only shares currently outstanding gives about $1.02tn, according to Reuters. Both figures are well below the roughly $2tn Anthropic had been aiming for, CNBC reported.
The price could still move. The Financial Times reported that bankers were considering pricing above the range because of strong demand. People familiar with the deal told CNBC that about 20 per cent of the shares are aimed at retail investors, against a typical 5 to 10 per cent.
Seven companies, including Google, Nvidia, Microsoft and AMD, have agreed to buy $26bn of non-voting shares at the IPO price in a separate placement, CNBC reported.
How UK investors can apply
The UK offer runs through RetailBook, a London-based fintech firm. It is using the FCA's new public offer platform rules, which let companies offer shares to UK retail investors through approved platforms. Anthropic's own offer page names seven participating platforms: AJ Bell, eToro, Hargreaves Lansdown, Interactive Brokers, Interactive Investor, Revolut and Robinhood. You cannot apply to Anthropic or RetailBook directly, and you may apply through only one platform.
Anthropic's UK offer document, filed with the SEC, says applications can come from a general investment account, ISA, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, SIPP or Junior SIPP. Individual platforms may offer only some of these, so check before applying. Money put into an ISA counts towards the £20,000 allowance for the 2026-27 tax year, according to GOV.UK.
Each platform sets its own cut-off time. Hargreaves Lansdown's is 3pm UK time on 18 November, and it warns that applications may close early. It says it charges no dealing or foreign exchange fee to apply, though normal account charges apply once you hold the shares. Hargreaves Lansdown also discloses that RetailBook pays it a fee of up to 0.2 per cent of the value allocated.
The terms are strict. Anthropic's offer document warns that "you will not know the exact purchase price for your Shares or how many you may receive (if any)". There is no minimum allocation to the UK offer at all. Applications in pounds are converted to dollars, and most UK investors will receive CREST depository interests, a form of holding that represents one US share each. Settlement is due on 20 November.
Some UK documents for the offer are not prospectuses and have not been approved by the FCA, Anthropic's offer page says. The shares will not be listed in London, so US market rules apply.
Anthropic co-founder and chief executive Dario Amodei at TechCrunch Disrupt in September 2023 (file photo). Photo: TechCrunch / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Other routes to exposure
Many savers already have some exposure without applying. Amazon and Google are both large Anthropic shareholders. The Evidence-Based Investor (TEBI), a UK site, says each will hold more than 5 per cent once preferred shares convert. That means global tracker funds already carry an indirect stake.
TEBI also expects Anthropic to enter major indices fairly quickly, starting with small weightings. It says the FTSE All-World index is eligible for fast entry and MSCI indices could follow within about 10 trading days. The S&P 500 requires a period of profits, so trackers of that index are likely to hold it last.
Some UK investment trusts held Anthropic before the listing. As of 29 October, it made up 6.8 per cent of Baillie Gifford US Growth, 6.1 per cent of Schiehallion and 2.8 per cent of Scottish Mortgage, MoneyWeek reported. City AM reported that Leverage Shares plans a three-times leveraged Anthropic product on the London Stock Exchange. Products like this magnify daily losses as well as gains.
The risks to weigh
Anthropic is growing quickly but losing large sums. Revenue for the nine months to 30 September was $33.24bn, about 13 times higher than a year earlier, according to its filings reported by CNBC. Its net loss over the same period was $104bn. CNBC said that loss was mostly driven by accounting changes in the value of convertible notes and derivatives. Reuters reported compute commitments of nearly $900bn with partners such as Amazon and Google.
Ordinary shareholders will have limited control. Anthropic's UK offer document says a founder entity holds 50.1 per cent of voting power, and a separate trust has the right to elect a majority of the board. The company does not expect to pay dividends.
Market mood is fragile. The Nasdaq fell 5.5 per cent in the week before the price range was set, Fortune reported, amid an AI-sector sell-off. Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, told MoneyWeek: "Anthropic is having to deal with the stark reality of a much more sceptical investor base."
Strong demand is no guarantee of gains. Data from Jay Ritter of the University of Florida, cited by Yahoo Finance, shows US IPOs from 1980 to 2024 returned about 6 per cent in their first year on average, against about 11 per cent for similar-sized listed companies. The prospectus itself warns that using AI to build more capable AI "could also pose a considerable safety risk, particularly if it sharply accelerates the pace of progress."
The Financial Ombudsman Service does not cover poor investment performance, and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) will not protect you against it.
Practical steps and key dates
- Check your platform. Only the seven named platforms are taking part. Some accept applications only from existing customers.
- Choose your account. An ISA or SIPP shelters gains from tax, but ISA money uses part of your £20,000 allowance. Lifetime ISA withdrawals for other purposes can carry a penalty.
- Read the documents. The disclosure summary and US prospectus are on RetailBook's offer page.
- Size it sensibly. Only invest money you can afford to lose. Think about how much of your portfolio you want in one company.
- Get advice if unsure. A regulated financial adviser can assess whether this suits your circumstances.
Key dates (UK time, subject to change):
- 18 November: UK applications close (3pm at Hargreaves Lansdown; check your platform's cut-off). Pricing is expected the same day.
- 19 November: Allocations confirmed; Nasdaq trading expected to begin, from 2:30pm at Hargreaves Lansdown.
- 20 November: Settlement of shares.
- 5 April 2027: End of the 2026-27 ISA year.
Featured image: NASDAQ Market Site 201506 by Luca Marfè at Italia all'ONU, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
