---
title: "Anthropic's S-1 leaves out Sequoia, Menlo and Lightspeed, and Sequoia's SpaceX case leans on Anthropic"
description: "The prospectus names Sequoia, Menlo, Lightspeed and ICONIQ as backers and then leaves them out, disclosing only Spark Capital. Meanwhile the same firm's public SpaceX thesis depends on Anthropic, a customer that can walk on 90 days' notice."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Deals"
published: 2026-11-03T18:07:23.954Z
modified: 2026-11-03T18:07:23.954Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/anthropic-s-s-1-leaves-out-sequoia-menlo-and-lightspeed-and-sequoia-s-spacex-case-leans-on-anthropic
language: en
keywords: "Anthropic, IPO, Venture Capital, Sequoia Capital, SpaceX, Robinhood"
---

# Anthropic's S-1 leaves out Sequoia, Menlo and Lightspeed, and Sequoia's SpaceX case leans on Anthropic

> The prospectus names Sequoia, Menlo, Lightspeed and ICONIQ as backers and then leaves them out, disclosing only Spark Capital. Meanwhile the same firm's public SpaceX thesis depends on Anthropic, a customer that can walk on 90 days' notice.

[Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic) [amended its IPO filing on November 2](https://www.straitstimes.com/business/anthropic-says-revenue-surged-1100-ahead-of-ipo) and the numbers landed as advertised: $16.8 billion of third-quarter revenue, an operating loss of $567 million, and about $895 billion of committed spending, $70 billion of it due before September 2027 [2][3]. The offering is expected to price before US Thanksgiving at a reported $1.5 to $2 trillion valuation, which would beat [SpaceX](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/spacex)'s June record [2].

But the strangest fact in the largest IPO ever planned is a hole, not a figure. Press coverage of the prospectus names [Sequoia Capital](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/sequoia-capital), Menlo Ventures, [Lightspeed](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/lightspeed) and ICONIQ as backers, and [the filing itself leaves all four out](https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-10-26-2026/card/few-vcs-mentioned-in-anthropic-ipo-filing-except-spark-capital-AzO2iia3OGgCOvgbzPAt) [9]. The only venture firm it discloses is Spark Capital, which has invested $777 million across six rounds since leading a $450 million financing at a $4.5 billion valuation in May 2023, and whose partner Yasmin Razavi holds the only venture seat on the board [1][8][9].

So the stake that prices first in public is one the prospectus does not describe. That matters because the revenue behind the filing is real and still compounding: $386 million for all of 2024 became $17 billion in the third quarter of 2026 alone [1][2].

*Chart: **Anthropic's annual revenue went from $41 million to $4.6 billion in two years** Bars showing Anthropic's annual revenue rising from $41 million in fiscal 2023 to $386 million in fiscal 2024 and $4.6 billion in fiscal 2025.*

*Annual revenue, fiscal years 2023 to 2025, in billions of US dollars. Sources: Moneycontrol S-1 decode. [1]*

## Sequoia's two marks share one customer

Here is the arithmetic that never appears in either document. Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire built the public bull case for SpaceX, [projecting revenue reaching $731 billion by 2028](https://www.tikr.com/blog/amazon-google-and-microsoft-are-absolute-jokes-at-building-next-to-spacex-says-sequoia-partner?), more than double Wall Street's estimate, and calling [Amazon](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/amazon), Google and [Microsoft](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/microsoft) "absolute jokes" at building in the physical world [7]. Yet one customer, Anthropic, supplied about a third of SpaceX's third-quarter revenue [7].

Anthropic's own filing discloses [a commitment of up to $120.5 billion with SpaceX](https://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-s-1-filing-decoded-soaring-revenue-voting-structure-existential-risks-and-more-article-14060965.html/amp) that either side can cancel on 90 days' notice once the noncancelable periods end in January and March 2027 [1][7]. A Sequoia limited partner is marking one AI company twice, and the two marks move together.

Retail is fighting for the other side of the same trade. [Robinhood](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/robinhood)'s CFO called the contest for Anthropic allocations ["a food fight"](https://finance.yahoo.com/video/robinhood-food-fight-anthropic-ipo-203913394.html) and argues retail, already a fifth or more of daily equity volume, deserves a slice to match; SpaceX set the precedent at 15 to 20 percent [4][5]. SpaceX also handed back a fifth of its post-IPO peak within a week [3]. Whoever wins that argument is setting the price at which this boom's private paper becomes public.

## What the buyer of the IPO is actually buying

I am firmly pro-AI, and the strongest evidence in this filing is that Anthropic's operating cash flow turned positive at $3.93 billion in the first half of 2026 [1]. The judgment for investors is narrower. Strip away the non-cash loss, which is mostly accounting charges tied to Anthropic's rising valuation, and what remains is a company spending real money to secure compute it cannot yet guarantee [2].

October's venture totals tell the same story. [$59 billion was raised globally](https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/october-2026-global-startup-funding-strong-china-deepseek/), two-thirds of it into AI-driven companies, and seven companies took more than 40 percent of it, while the US IPO market sat idle waiting for this listing [6]. Anthropic is where that concentration meets public pricing, and the prospectus does not even show you the table of who already won.

The one name it shows, Spark, backed the company when most venture firms would not, and earned a board seat for it [8][9]. That, not the revenue chart, is the part of the deal to study: at pricing, the question is who takes allocation, and whether a Sequoia limited partner should still hold SpaceX into a customer about to set its own public price.

## Takeaway

Anthropic's amended S-1 discloses only Spark Capital among its venture backers, leaving Sequoia, Menlo, Lightspeed and ICONIQ unnamed, while the same firm's public SpaceX case rests on Anthropic, a customer that can cancel its $120.5 billion commitment on 90 days' notice.

## Sources

1. [Moneycontrol, Anthropic S-1 filing decoded: Soaring revenue, voting structure, existential risks, and more, 28 October 2026](https://www.moneycontrol.com/artificial-intelligence/anthropic-s-1-filing-decoded-soaring-revenue-voting-structure-existential-risks-and-more-article-14060965.html/amp)
2. [The Straits Times, Anthropic says revenue surged 1,100% ahead of IPO, 3 November 2026](https://www.straitstimes.com/business/anthropic-says-revenue-surged-1100-ahead-of-ipo)
3. [Yahoo Finance (BeInCrypto), Robinhood Pushes for Bigger Retail Share of Anthropic IPO as Allocations Grow, 2 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/robinhood-pushes-bigger-retail-share-021352520.html)
4. [Yahoo Finance (Bloomberg), Robinhood in 'Food Fight' for Anthropic IPO Retail Allocation, 2 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/video/robinhood-food-fight-anthropic-ipo-203913394.html)
5. [Yahoo Finance (StockTwits), Robinhood Battles Rival Brokers To Secure Retail Allocations Ahead Of Anthropic IPO, 2 November 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/robinhood-battles-rival-brokers-secure-212923074.html)
6. [Crunchbase News, China's Largest Startup Deal Ever Lifts Global Venture Funding To $59B In October, 3 November 2026](https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/october-2026-global-startup-funding-strong-china-deepseek/)
7. [TIKR, Amazon, Google and Microsoft Are "Absolute Jokes" at Building Next to SpaceX, Says Sequoia Partner, 3 November 2026](https://www.tikr.com/blog/amazon-google-and-microsoft-are-absolute-jokes-at-building-next-to-spacex-says-sequoia-partner?)
8. [The Wall Street Journal, Few VCs Mentioned in Anthropic IPO Filing, Except Spark Capital, 26 October 2026](https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-10-26-2026/card/few-vcs-mentioned-in-anthropic-ipo-filing-except-spark-capital-AzO2iia3OGgCOvgbzPAt)
9. [Business Insider (via MSN), Why one VC firm is mentioned more than 50 times in Anthropic's S-1, 26 October 2026](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/why-one-vc-firm-is-mentioned-more-than-50-times-in-anthropics-s-1/ar-AA2g6S6M)


---

Anthropic's S-1 leaves out Sequoia, Menlo and Lightspeed, and Sequoia's SpaceX case leans on Anthropic — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/anthropic-s-s-1-leaves-out-sequoia-menlo-and-lightspeed-and-sequoia-s-spacex-case-leans-on-anthropic