Anthropic publicly alerted investors on May 12 and 13 that several secondary marketplaces are selling its private shares without authorization, and any such transactions will be void and not recognized on its books, the company said in a blog post and website update [1, 2].
The AI startup named eight firms offering access to unauthorized Anthropic shares: Hiive, Forge Global, Sydecar, Open Door Partners, Lionheart Ventures, UpMarket, Unicorns Exchange, and Pachamama [1, 2]. Anthropic said that any sale or transfer of its stock through these firms is invalid [2].
Forge Global responded saying it was included erroneously and is cooperating with Anthropic to remove its name from the alert. A Forge spokesperson said, "Forge does not facilitate transactions in any private company’s shares without the explicit approval of the company" [1]. Hiive also stated that all share transfers it facilitates have issuer approval and highlighted the compliance infrastructure it has invested in [1]. Sydecar requires sponsors to attest to reviewing transferability documents and needs consent from the company providing the shares [1]. Unicorns Exchange stopped offering Anthropic shares after the warning but said, "We hope the company will reconsider," according to managing partner Idan Miller [1].
Secondary markets allow employees and early investors to sell shares of private firms. Anthropic is a highly sought-after AI company with strict transfer restrictions on its stock [1, 2]. Its private shares are among the hardest to find on secondary markets, with brokers reporting extremely high demand [2]. Some investment products linked to AI companies use tokenized securities, SPVs, or derivatives that do not confer actual ownership [2].
Anthropic is reportedly in early talks to raise at least US$30 billion in new funding, which would be its largest round to date and could value the company around $900 billion [1, 2].
The company’s warning aims to prevent investors from buying unauthorized shares that will not be validated, a move likely tied to managing control and maintaining compliance ahead of the large fundraising effort. The next key step will be any formal announcement of the new financing as talks progress.
