The Anthropic logo is displayed on the screen of a smartphone with the company's branding in the background

Anthropic IPO: Why Amazon and Google Are the Biggest Winners Over VCs

by

As artificial intelligence startup Anthropic prepares to go public, venture capital firms are locking in multi-billion-dollar payouts, but regulatory filings reveal that strategic enterprise backers are positioned to capture the lion’s share of the financial windfall, TechCrunch reported.

The Bottom Line:

  • Anthropic’s S-1 registration statement shows that venture capital firms like Menlo Ventures, Sequoia, Sound Ventures, and Spark Capital hold equity stakes yielding billions, yet none surpass the 5% threshold required for the principal stockholders’ table.
  • Amazon stands as the single largest financial beneficiary, holding $6.2 billion in convertible note principal that its own filings valued at $97.9 billion as of June 30, alongside a $10 billion preferred stock investment.
  • Both Amazon and Google have secured massive long-term cloud commitments, with Anthropic pledging at least $110 billion to AWS through a decade-long agreement and $114 billion to Google Cloud through 2033.

The Mechanics Behind Anthropic’s $965 Billion Private Valuation

Buried in the footnotes of the Anthropic S-1 filing, the sheer scale of the enterprise explains why traditional venture capital ownership math no longer applies. At a private valuation touching $965 billion, a mere 1% stake commands a staggering $10 billion price tag. Menlo Ventures, holding an approximate $14 billion position, commands just 1.5% of the entire company, according to Bloomberg figures cited by TechCrunch. In any standard tech IPO, early venture backers routinely command double-digit equity percentages. Here, corporate heavyweights have crowded out standard venture ownership tiers by injecting capital through debt structures and strategic equity.

Amazon +33% vs Google +34%… Anthropic IPO Winners: Which to Buy Now? (Quant Analysis)

That dynamic shifted the balance of power toward tech conglomerates that double as infrastructure providers. Amazon first backed Anthropic in 2023 with an initial commitment to invest up to $4 billion. Instead of buying common stock outright at the onset, Amazon structured much of its financing through convertible notes—a form of debt designed to convert into equity upon a public listing.

Amazon’s $97.9 Billion Note Valuation and Non-Cash Accounting Charges

According to the S-1, Amazon held convertible notes with $6.2 billion in principal outstanding as of June 30, which constitutes the entirety of Anthropic’s debt load. As Anthropic’s valuation scaled rapidly across successive funding rounds, the underlying shares tied to those notes exploded in value. In Amazon’s quarterly report for the period ended June 30, the company valued its note holdings at $97.9 billion.

That meteoric rise created massive accounting adjustments on Anthropic’s books. As Anthropic reported, the company recorded charges on its income statement under the line item “change in fair value of convertible notes, derivative liabilities, and SAFEs,” totaling $72.4 billion for the first half of 2026 alone. Because the charge is entirely non-cash, no actual capital left the startup’s balance sheet.

The S-1 notes that Amazon’s convertible instruments could translate into as many as 1.84 billion shares. However, a contractual cap limits Amazon to 12% of Anthropic’s partially diluted share count, which factors in unissued options. Amazon retains the option to waive this cap, while any unconverted notes remain outstanding for subsequent quarters under the same threshold.

Anthropic IPO: Why Amazon and Google Are the Biggest Winners Over VCs
Photo: finance.yahoo.com

Expanding Equity Stakes and Multi-Billion Cloud Infrastructure Commitments

Beyond the debt conversion, Amazon poured an additional $10 billion into nonvoting preferred stock during the second quarter of 2026, splitting the capital evenly across Anthropic’s last two funding rounds. Combined with its earlier $8 billion in note financing deployed between 2023 and 2025, Amazon’s total capital outlay sits at approximately $18 billion.

Anthropic has committed to spend at least $110 billion on Amazon Web Services (AWS) over the next ten years. Meanwhile, Google maintains a parallel position. According to court filings reported by The New York Times, Google held roughly 14% of Anthropic early last year. Despite subsequent dilution from massive financing rounds—with PitchBook analyst Harrison Rolfes estimating Google’s current stake closer to 5.6%—Google injected another $10 billion in April and secured at least $114 billion in cloud computing commitments from Anthropic through 2033.

Why Amazon, Google & Microsoft All Bet on Anthropic

The S-1 filing explicitly warns investors about potential conflicts of interest. The cloud providers funding and hosting Anthropic also build and deploy competing artificial intelligence models, creating a complex operational dynamic where strategic partners share overlapping commercial priorities and direct market rivalries.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for educational and market analysis purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Always consult with a certified financial professional before making investment decisions.

More on this story: Musk and Anthropic Pledge Public Share Giveaways

More on Menlo Ventures

#anthropic is so entangled with #google and #amazon that “competitor” stops meaning anything #ai
Why Did Google AND Amazon Both Fund The Company Trying To Beat Them?

Worth a look

Read next