Little fish, big pond: Anthropic’s IPO is open to Canadian retail investors

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence firm recognized for its widely-used Claude chatbot, is gearing up for one of the most significant initial public offerings (IPOs) in history, offering Canadian retail investors an opportunity to purchase shares prior to their public trading debut. The company intends to allocate up to 20 percent of the shares available in its IPO to retail investors across select markets, a notable increase compared to the conventional practice in major U.S. offerings, which typically favor institutional investors and affluent individuals.

Despite the potential valuation of Anthropic’s IPO reaching as high as $64.35 billion, this amount is merely a small portion of the company's estimated valuation of $1.4 trillion. According to the prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, existing shareholders are anticipated to retain approximately 91 percent of the total shares after the IPO and a separate private placement.

The limited number of shares available for retail investors may pose challenges in securing allocations at the IPO price. This offering arrives at a time when several Canadian investment platforms are increasing accessibility to IPOs. However, industry experts caution that gaining access to an IPO does not guarantee share allocation, and purchasing at the initial offering price carries inherent risks.

Anthropic plans to offer 825 million shares priced between $70 and $78 each, subject to change based on investor interest. In Canada, six financial institutions are set to participate in the retail offering: BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank, TD Securities, and Wealthsimple, as noted in Anthropic's preliminary Canadian prospectus.

Some major banks have directly informed their clients about the IPO participation details, while Wealthsimple has publicly detailed the process for eligible investors. Interested investors need to submit a request specifying the number of shares they wish to purchase. Wealthsimple will then reserve sufficient funds in their accounts to cover the request at the highest expected price, along with a 20 percent buffer to account for potential price increases.

For instance, an investor looking to acquire 10 shares of Anthropic would need approximately $930 available in their account based on the upper limit of the preliminary price range and the additional buffer. Ultimately, the investor will only be charged for the shares they actually receive at the final offering price.

However, making a request for shares does not guarantee allocation. If demand surpasses supply, investors might receive only a portion of their requested shares, or none at all. This situation was experienced by Jonathan Platt, a 27-year-old who requested 345 shares ahead of the IPO of Apotex Health Corp. in June. His estimated total investment of around $10,000 yielded just 26 shares.

Wealthsimple employs a weighted random selection method to determine which eligible clients receive shares, giving some clients higher priority. The platform has also implemented rules to deter investors from quickly reselling their IPO shares for profit, a practice referred to as flipping.

For Canadians who do not secure shares through the IPO, there will still be an opportunity to buy Anthropic stock once it begins trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ANT. However, these investors will acquire shares at the market price, which may vary from the IPO price.

Investors who participated in the highly anticipated IPO of SpaceX earlier this year currently find themselves with gains of approximately 3.5 percent, slightly outperforming the S&P 500 index. However, those who purchased shares when SpaceX began trading on June 12 are facing losses of around 19 percent, in contrast to a 2.5 percent gain in the broader market.

When investors gain early access to an IPO, substantial returns are not guaranteed. A study conducted in 2025 by researchers from the U.S. and China indicated that IPO access products providing shares to retail investors at the same price as institutional investors underperformed those that did not offer shares to retail investors by roughly 20 percentage points during their first year as public companies. The researchers attributed this discrepancy to more aggressive pricing strategies and the tendency for retail trading to be influenced by online trends.

Sam Mitter, a senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners, noted that bankers involved in pricing IPOs aim to set prices that generate excitement. He commented that an implied valuation of 12 times sales for Anthropic, should it price its IPO around $76, is “not egregious in the tech industry.”