AI Startup IPO Plans as a New Phase of the Industry
AI startup IPO plans are the timelines, strategies, and valuation targets that leading artificial intelligence firms set for listing on public stock markets, revealing how they balance capital needs, competition, and investor expectations in a fast-moving, high-cost technology race. This new phase is visible in the confidential S-1 filings from OpenAI and Anthropic and in Perplexity’s decision to name a 2028 IPO goal. These moves shift the field from private fundraises toward public scrutiny, quarterly results, and broader retail participation. Public listings are not only about cash; they also aim to reward early employees, keep top research talent, and lock in investor enthusiasm while AI remains a central market theme. How these offerings price and perform will shape future tech IPO strategy, set reference points for AI company valuations, and signal whether current enthusiasm can outlast macroeconomic uncertainty.
Perplexity IPO 2028: A Confident Bet on Search Disruption
Perplexity’s declared plan for a 2028 IPO, independent of the OpenAI public offering or Anthropic’s debut, highlights a long-term strategy built around search disruption. CEO Aravind Srinivas told CNBC that “agnostic of these two companies, we were planning for something in 2028, so that still remains the case,” signaling confidence that its AI-powered search model can mature at its own pace. Perplexity positions itself against Google and AI browsers such as OpenAI’s Atlas, using its Comet browser to scrape the web and return conversational answers, and extending into workflow automation with its “Computer” digital worker. The company was last valued at USD 20 billion (approx. RM92 billion) after raising USD 200 million (approx. RM920 million), far below the trillion-dollar talk around frontier labs but still implying high growth expectations. Its stance suggests a belief that sustained product differentiation in search and agents will matter more than short-term market sentiment when it finally lists.
OpenAI and Anthropic: Trillion-Dollar Valuations Under the Microscope
OpenAI’s confidential filing, following Anthropic, has turned their potential public offerings into a test of whether public markets accept near-trillion-dollar AI company valuations. Estimates suggest both OpenAI and Anthropic could list at around USD 1 trillion (approx. RM4.6 trillion), ranges more commonly associated with deep, mature profit streams than loss-making, capital-intensive labs. Gregory Allen described such valuations as “an annuity that kicks out USD 45 billion (approx. RM207 billion) a year every year forever,” underscoring how much growth investors must assume. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives argues that the filings show “the floodgates for the IPO market are officially open,” with both labs racing to raise large sums while demand is strong. Yet critics such as Gary Marcus warn that buyers should be cautious about paying full price for companies whose long-term technical and economic path is uncertain, despite favorable gross margins.
Racing the Clock: Cash Burn, Liquidity, and IPO Timing
Behind the aggressive tech IPO strategy sits a simple pressure: building and running frontier AI models is expensive, and private funding, while deep, is not unlimited. SpaceX’s filing, which revealed a quarterly net loss of USD 4.28 billion (approx. RM19.7 billion) on revenue of USD 4.69 billion (approx. RM21.5 billion), shows how high-growth, infrastructure-heavy companies can accept steep losses in pursuit of scale. For AI labs, IPOs offer access to large, recurring pools of public capital and broaden the investor base beyond elite funds. Michael Fertik says he hopes SpaceX’s IPO opens “a gushing torrent of liquidity” that also benefits OpenAI and Anthropic. At the same time, Gregory Allen warns that the main risk is timing massive capital expenditures so they “ride the wave of revenue growth” without running out of cash. That balancing act will shape investor appetite for this first wave of AI listings.
Strategic Positioning: Search Upstart vs. AI Infrastructure Giants
The staggered IPO timelines underline strategic differences in how these firms see the AI landscape. OpenAI and Anthropic pitch themselves as broad AI infrastructure leaders, selling access to powerful models that sit underneath many applications and cloud platforms. Their race to list sooner reflects a desire to raise substantial capital quickly and to display momentum in enterprise adoption. Perplexity, by contrast, focuses on a user-facing product layer, aiming to disrupt search and knowledge work through its browser Comet and its Computer agent. Srinivas stresses that he wants strong frontier model competition because “every time AI gets better, Perplexity gets better,” implying a symbiotic rather than directly competitive stance toward the labs. For investors, the contrast offers a choice: bet on the foundational platforms or on specialized products built atop them. How each path performs after listing will influence how future AI startup IPO plans are crafted.
