If You Own A 401(k), You May Already Own A Piece Of Anthropic Before The IPO
Anthropic filed to go public, but millions of retirement savers may have already bought in without realizing it. Three familiar mutual funds quietly accumulated private Anthropic shares before any IPO, and your 401(k) balance might reflect it right now.
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Anthropic filed to go public on October 26, 2026, and nobody can buy its stock on an exchange yet. Some ordinary mutual funds own it anyway. If your 401(k) holds one of those funds, you may already have a small, indirect piece of Anthropic.
The headline holds up. The interest is also small. Each Anthropic position is 1.5% of its fund’s assets or less, so the IPO will move these funds without transforming them.
Mutual Funds Can Own Private Companies, Within Limits
Americans held $10 trillion in 401(k) plans as of Sept. 30, 2025, according to the Investment Company Institute. A big share of that money sits in actively managed mutual funds, and those funds can buy shares of private companies during funding rounds.
Liquidity is the limit. The SEC’s liquidity rule caps a fund’s illiquid investments at 15% of net assets, because the fund has to be able to pay shareholders who cash out. So managers who want early access to a startup keep it to a small piece and hold it until an IPO creates a market. That’s why an IPO can show up in a retirement account before the stock ever trades.
Three Funds Report Anthropic Positions
Funds disclose their holdings in an SEC report called Form N-PORT. Three widely sold funds list Anthropic: Growth Fund of America (NASDAQ:AGTHX), Fundamental Investors (NASDAQ:ANCFX) and Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio (NASDAQ:FSPTX). Each fund’s numbers come from its own report date.
| Fund (report date) | Anthropic shares | Value | % of net assets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth Fund of America (May 31, 2026) | 5,075,585 preferred | $2,990 million | 0.83% |
| Growth Fund of America (May 31, 2026) | 2,859,590 preferred | $1,684 million | 0.47% |
| Growth Fund of America (May 31, 2026) | 519,146 common | $306 million | 0.08% |
| Fidelity Select Technology (Aug. 31, 2026) | 127,300 preferred | $99 million | 0.27% |
| Fidelity Select Technology (Aug. 31, 2026) | 658,500 preferred | $512 million | 1.39% |
| Fidelity Select Technology (Aug. 31, 2026) | 673,183 preferred | $554 million | 1.50% |
| Fundamental Investors (June 30, 2026) | 1,726,060 preferred | $1,017 million | 0.56% |
Your Anthropic Slice Is Smaller Than the Headline Suggests
Look at Fidelity Select Technology, which had about $37 billion in net assets. Its largest Anthropic position was 1.5% of the fund. Picture a $10,000 balance as an example. That position would work out to about $150 of your money.
Now compare that with the fund’s biggest holdings. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA | NVDA Price Prediction) made up 19% of net assets in the same report. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was 16%. Those two companies will move your balance far more than anything Anthropic does on its first day of trading.
Funds Repriced Anthropic Before It Ever Traded
These dollar values are each fund’s own estimate of what a private company is worth. The industry calls this fair value. With no market price to go on, a fund marks the shares using inputs such as recent funding rounds and comparable public companies. Most of these holdings are preferred stock, a class that typically gets paid ahead of common shareholders if the company is sold.
Those estimates change. Fidelity Select Technology’s May 31 report valued its three positions at about $75 million, $388 million and $419 million. By Aug. 31, the same share counts carried the higher values shown in the table. Any increase in those estimates is already reflected in the fund’s share price.
What Anthropic’s S-1 Says Happens to Preferred Shares
The filing describes a “Preferred Stock Conversion.” All outstanding redeemable convertible preferred shares automatically convert into common stock “immediately prior to the completion of this offering”. Some series become Class A common stock. Others become non-voting Class N common stock, which isn’t listed and converts into Class A after a qualifying transfer.
The S-1 leaves the share count and price range blank for now. Once the IPO prices, the funds’ stakes will have a real market price, and it could come in above or below their estimates. The filing also says holders of substantially all existing stock agreed not to sell for 180 days after the prospectus date, with some exceptions.
How to Check Your 401(k) in Ten Minutes
- Pull your fund list. Log in to your plan’s website or open your latest quarterly statement. Look for Growth Fund of America, Fundamental Investors or Fidelity Select Technology Portfolio. Plans often offer a share class with extra letters in the name, but it holds the same portfolio.
- Open the holdings report. Fund companies post full holdings on their websites, and N-PORT filings are free on the SEC’s EDGAR database. Search the list for “Anthropic” and write down the report date.
- Translate it into dollars. Multiply your balance in the fund by each Anthropic percentage, one position at a time. That number is your indirect exposure.
- Ask HR if the menu is unclear. Your benefits team can confirm exactly which funds your plan offers and which share class you hold.
Once Anthropic sets its share count and price range, each fund’s next holdings report will show what its Anthropic interest is worth at a real market price instead of an estimate.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
AJ spent 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
