Anthropic Secures BB+ Credit Rating From KBRA, Nearing Investment Grade

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has been awarded a BB+ credit rating by global credit ratings agency Kroll Bond Rating Agency, placing the firm just one notch below investment grade. According to reports, the rating was assigned in June and represents the highest rung within speculative-grade ratings, achieved despite the company disclosing only limited financial information.

The rating milestone arrives as investment banks supporting Anthropic and its rival OpenAI work to persuade major credit ratings firms to grant investment-grade ratings once the companies list. Securing an investment-grade rating can lower borrowing costs and enable a company to raise funds from a broader set of institutional investors, including pension funds and life insurers. Following the rating, Anthropic successfully secured $35 billion in chip financing led by Apollo.

To establish the rating, Kroll Bond Rating Agency utilized limited financial information supplied by Anthropic, which included first-quarter revenue, adjusted operating profit, annualized revenue, and internal second-quarter forecasts. However, key financial indicators such as free cash flow and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization were omitted from the assessment.

Looking ahead, Anthropic shared further financial details at a pre-initial public offering investor briefing on October 14. The company reported that third-quarter revenue reached $16.8 billion, marking an increase of nearly 50 percent, and noted that it posted adjusted profits for the second consecutive quarter.