Anthropic is preparing for an IPO. 4 small-cap stocks that could benefit from this

The race among artificial intelligence developers has entered a new phase—the battle for public capital. In early June, Anthropic, the creator of the Claude model, confidentially filed for an IPO, beating OpenAI to the stock market by a few days. Anthropic President Daniela Amodei explained the company’s interest in going public by citing the high capital intensity of developing and training cutting-edge AI models, which require significant and ongoing investment.

Anthropic's annual recurring revenue (ARR) reached approximately $47 billion, more than five times the figure from last December, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. In May, the company closed a funding round at a valuation of $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI, which is valued at $852 billion. Details of Anthropic’s IPO are not yet known, but its latest private valuation already places the company among the world’s largest initial public offerings. An IPO of this scale will be a major test for the entire artificial intelligence sector. A successful IPO for Anthropic could boost interest in the sector and serve as further confirmation that the industry is transitioning from experimental projects to large-scale commercial deployments.

Oninvest has selected four small- and mid-cap companies with exposure to Anthropic’s growth that investors should keep an eye on ahead of the IPO: Two of them are infrastructure and service providers for Anthropic, while the other two use its models in their own products.

Lumen Technologies (ticker symbol LUMN)

Lumen Technologies, a mid-cap company, specializes in building fiber-optic infrastructure. In February 2026, Anthropic selected the company to build a high-performance communications network called Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) worth nearly $13 billion. PCF is Lumen’s private fiber-optic network designed to connect data centers, cloud facilities, and AI infrastructure; other clients of the platform include Microsoft and Amazon Web Services.

At the investor day, the company announced its goal of increasing its adjusted EBITDA margin from 27.1% in 2025 to 30–35% by 2030. The $475 million acquisition of the Alkira cloud networking platform could serve as an additional driver: according to analysts at TD Cowen (the report is available at Oninvest), the deal has the potential to accelerate the company’s revenue growth. Alkira’s products enable the integration of cloud environments, data centers, offices, and users into a single secure network without the need to build proprietary physical infrastructure.

At the same time, according to TD Cowen’s assessment, most PCF contracts do not have an immediate financial impact; even at their peak, they account for only 3–4% of the company’s total revenue. In its latest report, TD Cowen maintained its “Hold” rating.

Over the past two years, Lumen’s stock has risen by approximately 600%, climbing from around $1 per share (as of June 14, 2024). Nevertheless, Lumen appears to be the most direct beneficiary of Anthropic’s potential growth following the company’s IPO, as the expansion of Claude’s developer business could have a direct impact on the telecom operator’s revenue.

According to MarketWatch, 11 Wall Street analysts recommend holding the company's stock, three recommend selling, and only one recommends buying. The average price target is $7.9, which is 5.8% lower than the stock's closing price on June 16.

Asana (ASAN)

Asana is developing a project management platform that helps companies plan their work, assign tasks, track deadlines, and coordinate team collaboration. During a call with investors to discuss results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, Asana CEO Daniel Rogers said that Anthropic uses Asana’s products—AI Studio and AI Teammates. However, according to UBS estimates, Anthropic is not among Asana’s largest customers. For the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, Asana increased revenue by 9.5% year-over-year to $205 million. The net loss (GAAP) was $14.4 million, compared with a loss of $40 million a year earlier. At the same time, the company raised its organic growth forecast to 8.2–9.2%.

Artificial intelligence remains a key driver of the business. AI products accounted for 17% of net recurring revenue growth for the quarter, and the number of AI Studio customers doubled over the year. At the same time, UBS analysts point to factors that could hold back further growth acceleration: Asana’s business model is tied to the number of workstations, so a slowdown in hiring and layoffs among some customers—particularly in the technology sector—are reducing the number of workstations and putting pressure on subscription growth. This is further compounded by general caution among companies regarding their corporate software budgets.

Analysts’ opinions on the company’s outlook differ significantly. On June 4, UBS raised its price target from $14 to $18, while maintaining a neutral rating. Bank of America, despite its “buy” rating, lowered its price target from $23 to $21, while Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its “underperform” recommendation with a price target of $10. With the market price at around $8, this wide range of estimates in itself reflects a high level of uncertainty surrounding the company’s future growth trajectory.

Asana’s relationship with Anthropic is primarily a client relationship, so a potential IPO by the developer of Claude is unlikely to have a significant impact on the company’s financial results. It is more a matter of an indirect bet on the proliferation of enterprise AI tools than of being a direct beneficiary of Anthropic’s growth.

Eight Wall Street analysts recommend holding the company’s stock (Hold rating), six recommend buying, and two recommend selling, according to MarketWatch. The average price target—$9.13—implies an increase of nearly 24% from the stock’s closing price on June 16.

UiPath (PATH)

UiPath develops a business process automation platform and is considered one of the beneficiaries of the spread of agent-based AI in the corporate sector. In 2026, the company announced that its Screen Agent, powered by Claude Opus 4.5, took first place in the OSWorld-Verified industry benchmark.

For the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, UiPath increased its revenue by 17.3% year-over-year to $418.4 million. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) grew by 12.3% to $1.9 billion. According to Bank of America analysts, the key driver over the next 6–12 months will be the transition from pilot projects in the field of agent-based AI to full-scale industrial implementation.

Among the risks, analysts point to continued weakness in the small-customer segment and relatively moderate ARR growth, which is projected to be around 11% for the current fiscal year.

Although UiPath uses Anthropic’s technology, the company’s prospects depend primarily on how quickly businesses adopt AI agents and automation. Therefore, Anthropic’s potential IPO is more likely to be an additional positive signal for the company than a direct driver of UiPath’s financial results.

On May 29, Barclays reaffirmed its “Equal Weight” rating (a recommendation to hold the stock) with a price target of $14, while Bank of America raised its price target to $13 from $12, maintaining its “Underperform” rating (essentially a recommendation to sell the stock). At a market price of about $11, the shares are trading at nearly half their 52-week high, which was close to $20. In total, the company’s shares have 18 “Hold” recommendations, 4 “Buy” recommendations, and one “Sell” recommendation. The average price target is $13.47, representing 28% upside potential from the current price.

GitLab (GTLB)

Mid-cap is building a platform for software development. The company lists Claude as one of the supported AI agents for writing code, alongside Cursor and Codex, with which its infrastructure is compatible. At the same time, the company announced expanded integration with Anthropic’s Claude models, which will allow customers to use new AI features directly within a unified development environment.

In the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, GitLab’s revenue increased by 23% year-over-year to $264 million. The company also raised its full-year revenue forecast to $1.112–1.118 billion. At the same time, GitLab announced expanded integration with Anthropic’s Claude models, which will allow customers to use new AI features within a unified development environment.

A key issue for investors is the monetization of AI products. The company is gradually transitioning its new solutions from a traditional per-user pricing model to a pay-as-you-go model. JPMorgan analysts note in their report that the GitLab—Duo Agent Platform has already reached an annual run rate of approximately $20 million, but this figure does not yet indicate a sustainable contribution to the company’s revenue.

One of the risks for GitLab remains a decline in the number of users among its clients amid layoffs in the tech sector: this is putting pressure on demand in a business model that depends on the number of user licenses. In addition, GitLab itself announced a large-scale restructuring: the layoff of about 350 employees, or roughly 14% of its workforce, as well as its withdrawal from 22 countries where the company did not conduct direct sales.

For GitLab, the partnership with Anthropic is primarily technological in nature. No direct financial impact from Anthropic’s IPO should be expected. However, a successful offering could boost market interest in AI tools for development and support demand for GitLab’s own products.

On June 3, JPMorgan raised its price target for the stock to $32 from $28, while maintaining a neutral rating. At the current price of around $28, the stock appears to be close to its fair value. JPMorgan’s neutral stance suggests that investors are waiting for more convincing signs of sustainable growth and confirmation of the company’s ability to effectively monetize its AI solutions. Most Wall Street analysts recommend holding GitLab shares: 19 out of 30 analysts have a “Hold” rating. Another nine have assigned a “Buy” rating, and only two have a “Sell” rating. The average price target is $33.6, with an upside potential of nearly 21%.