Anthropic has told prospective investors that its Q3 revenue reached about $16.8 billion and that it had turned an adjusted profit. The figures were disclosed at a private pre-IPO meeting as the AI company prepares for a public offering that could value it at over $2 trillion.The numbers behind the jumpAnthropic’s third-quarter revenue rose 45% quarter over quarter to $16.8 billion, Reuters reported, citing an investor who attended a meeting with executives in San Francisco on Wednesday. Anthropic’s Q1 revenue was recorded at $4.7 billion, with a Q2 revenue of about $11.6 billion.The growth is seen as quite rapid, and despite the surge, the company recorded an operating loss of more than $8 billion over the same period. These exclude writedowns mostly tied to earlier fundraising rounds.Anthropic IPO built to beat OpenAI to the marketThe revenue figures have landed while investors continue to await Anthropic’s public S-1 filing. The company confidentially submitted its paperwork to the SEC on June 1, with a stock market debut expected this fall at a valuation close to $2 trillion.Reuters reported that Anthropic’s IPO could end up being extended till after the November US midterm elections. Regardless of this, even if a delay ends up happening, the company is still expected to go public before rival OpenAI, which is targeting an early 2027 listing. OpenAI is instead looking at a potential $30 billion funding round at a $1.4 trillion valuation.This means Anthropic’s IPO could give investors a sort of early assessment of what large AI companies that remain deeply unprofitable as they scale can become. The Claude maker has stated that it believes revenue will eventually exceed the cost of developing and running advanced AI models.Spending commitments and safety questionsAnthropic has made commitments worth at least $518 billion over the next ten years to cloud computing and infrastructure. Google’s parent Alphabet and Amazon are both helping to fund the expansion, supplying computing power and distributing the company’s products while competing with it in the AI market.Founded by former OpenAI executives, Anthropic has built its business around its Claude AI models and a focus on AI safety. The company says its research has found AI agents leaking sensitive data and sabotaging code in test environments, although it has not observed similar misbehavior in live deployments.If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter.