Anthropic Warns Against Unauthorized Secondary Market Platforms Selling Its Shares
Anthropic is drawing a hard line on who gets to sell its stock. The Claude-maker hupdated its website this week to publicly warn investors that a growing number of private and secondary investment platforms claiming to offer access to Anthropic secondary market shares are not authorized to do so and that any trades conducted through them will be treated as if they never happened.
The company named Open Doors Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama Capital, Lionheart Ventures, Hiive, Forge Global, Sydecar, and Upmarket as companies not authorized to provide access to buy or sell its shares, stating that any sale or transfer of Anthropic stock offered by these firms is void and will not be recognized on its books and records.
A Booming Demand That Anthropic Wants to Control
The warning arrives at a moment of intense investor appetite for AI company equity. Anthropic, rumored to be raising fresh funding at a $900 billion valuation, has especially been in demand, with some secondary market brokers describing it as one of the “hardest” stocks to source. That scarcity has fuelled a wave of platforms some legitimate, some not racing to offer exposure through SPVs, tokenized securities, and derivative instruments.
Anthropic is drawing a firm distinction between all of them. The company says both its preferred and common stock are subject to transfer restrictions, meaning any share sale not approved by its board of directors is invalid. It specifically states it does not permit SPVs to acquire its stock, and that any transfer of shares to an SPV is void under its transfer restrictions.
One named platform pushed back. Forge Global told TechCrunch it was included erroneously and is working with Anthropic to have its name removed, stating it does not facilitate transactions in any private company’s shares without the explicit approval of the company.
Investors eyeing Anthropic secondary market shares through any unofficial channel should proceed with serious caution the company has made clear it will not honour those transactions.
