Anthropic IPO valuation cools: Q3 revenue growth slows, some investors cut valuation to $1.5 trillion.

Title context: Anthropic IPO valuation cools: Q3 revenue growth slows, some investors cut valuation to $1.5 trillion. Text: The IPO valuation expectations for AI company Anthropic are cooling. According to reports, some existing and potential investors are considering participating in its IPO at a valuation of about $1.5 trillion, below the previous market expectation of about $2 trillion. This valuation reassessment comes after the company disclosed a slowdown in quarter-over-quarter revenue growth in the third quarter. Q3 revenue $16.8 billion, quarter-over-quarter growth slows According to reports, at an investor meeting held on Wednesday at its San Francisco headquarters, Claude's parent company Anthropic reported third-quarter revenue of $16.8 billion, up 45% from $11.6 billion in the second quarter. Second-quarter revenue had risen 147% from $4.7 billion in the first quarter. The above figures were disclosed by media and have not yet been officially confirmed by Anthropic. Nevertheless, the slowdown in revenue growth still disappointed some investors. Amid the valuation discussions, investor concerns are intensifying over the rising costs of AI infrastructure buildout and the growing reliance on debt financing for expansion. These concerns, combined with U.S. September inflation data coming in above expectations, triggered a sharp selloff in AI-related stocks over the past week. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell on Thursday for an eighth consecutive trading day. Some investors remain bullish on AI prospects However, some investors remain optimistic about the broader AI industry. "We may never see Anthropic report ARR (annual recurring revenue) data again, and that is actually a good thing. It should force the market to stop focusing so much on Anthropic/OpenAI ARR data and instead turn its attention to scale growth rates, because for now, scale growth rate is a better metric for measuring artificial intelligence, since it covers Muse, Grok, Gemini and open-source models." Atreides Management Chief Investment Officer Gavin Baker posted on X on Thursday. Baker also said that Anthropic's positive free cash flow and accelerating growth in October are reasons he is bullish on the company's prospects. He said the company's unit economics are "far better than expected," with 75% of compute spending going toward training. Anthropic IPO seen as a touchstone for the AI trade Anthropic's listing is becoming a key test of investor interest in AI companies. The outcome could shape market sentiment ahead of a possible OpenAI IPO next year. The U.S. IPO market has also recently suffered setbacks. Last month, data center operator SB Energy postponed its listing, and nuclear technology company Holtec Nuclear withdrew its listing plans. Smart ring maker Oura also postponed its IPO, citing volatile market conditions. Anthropic's IPO will also provide an important exit and monetization opportunity for its backers. These supporters include top publicly listed tech companies such as Amazon, Alphabet and Nvidia. Earlier this month, confusion caused by OpenAI revenue data rattled semiconductor stocks and the broader Nasdaq index. Media initially reported that the AI startup's annualized revenue was $70 billion, but later reported that the figure was closer to $50 billion.