Pre-IPO investing: When should advisors buy into Anthropic or SpaceX?

Clients asking how to get into the next Anthropic are running into an uncomfortable reality: by the time a company like it reaches the public market, much of its growth may already be priced in. Wealth managers say that makes “wait for the IPO” an active decision with its own cost – but pre-IPO investing without valuation discipline carries risks of its own.

The question has become urgent in 2026. SpaceX raised a record $75 billion in its June debut on public markets. Anthropic, valued at $965 billion in a May funding round, has reportedly picked Nasdaq for a listing targeted as early as October 2026.

Research from ABS Global Investments, a Stamford, Connecticut-based investment manager, found the average US company is now more than 11 years old at IPO.

Why staying private longer changes the math

Stephen DiMaio, head of private wealth at ABS Global Investments, argues that what has changed is not investor appetite but the opportunity set. Roughly 86% of US companies with more than $100 million in annual revenue are private, he said, and the median company spends about 12 years in private hands before listing.

“Today, a meaningful share of that value accrues before the IPO ever happens. So, when a name like Anthropic moves toward a Nasdaq listing, reportedly targeting a valuation north of $1.5 trillion after raising private capital at $965 billion just six months earlier, that’s not really a story about one company. It’s a proof point for a structural change that advisors should already be discussing with their clients. ‘Wait for the IPO’ is no longer a neutral, no-cost strategy. It’s a decision to opt out of a stage of value creation that used to be the exclusive domain of venture funds with ten-year lockups and seven-figure minimums. What’s different now is that some of that access has become available through registered, ‘40 Act fund structures with quarterly liquidity and no accreditation requirement,” DiMaio said.

ABS launched one such vehicle, its Pre-IPO & Growth Fund, in February 2026. It is an interval fund. According to the SEC’s investor bulletin on interval funds, that is a registered closed-end fund that buys back a set portion of shares, typically 5% to 25%, at periodic intervals. Cerulli Associates estimates financial advisors already hold $2.2 trillion in private capital, with interval funds at about $132 billion at year-end 2025.

Late-stage private companies versus venture capital

DiMaio frames the choice as funding a hypothesis versus funding a track record. Seed and Series A deals fail 65% to 75% of the time and can take a decade or more to reach liquidity, he said. Series D and later companies typically show market leadership, revenue growth and improving margins. Their failure rates run 5% to 15%, and an exit is often one to three years away.

“Late-stage private valuations can run just as far ahead of fundamentals as public ones can, arguably more easily, because there’s so much less public information available to check them against. The underwriting question isn’t just ‘is this a real business’, it’s ‘am I paying a price that leaves room for a return,’ and that requires the same rigor around growth sustainability, comparable valuations, and realistic exit timelines that a public-market analyst would apply,” DiMaio said.

Mitchell Caplan, CEO of Willow Wealth, said “before the IPO” describes timing, not whether an investor is early to the opportunity.

“A private company’s valuation may already reflect years of expected success. Investors need to understand the business, the growth expectations embedded in the price, and whether they can commit capital for an uncertain period. A useful question is: Would I still want to own this investment if the IPO were delayed for several years?” Caplan said.

Who qualifies for pre-IPO access?

For direct stakes in a single private company, eligibility comes first. Brian Kuhn, senior vice president and financial advisor at Wealth Enhancement, said interested clients often must be qualified purchasers. That status generally requires at least $5 million in investments.

“For those who qualify, investing in a single late-stage pre-IPO company isn’t that different from allocating a portion of assets to venture capital or private equity, except that you have the additional concentration risk – the chance that one company doesn’t succeed as a publicly traded company. Private equity and venture capital will normally include baskets of high-potential companies, so you have some protection through diversification. You communicate that risk, along with others such as a lack of liquidity for an extended period of time and any fees involved,” Kuhn said.

How should advisors handle requests for Anthropic or SpaceX?

Rather than steering clients away from a specific name, DiMaio suggests using it as a bridge to a diversified late-stage vehicle that may hold it alongside other companies.

“These allocations are generally positioned as a slice of an alternatives sleeve, not a replacement for core equity or fixed income – something layered alongside buyout equity and venture capital inside a broader shift some are now making, from a traditional 60/40 equity-fixed income split toward something closer to 50/30/20 with alternatives carved out explicitly. The advisor’s job is less about deciding whether the client should have a position in that space, and more about sizing it appropriately against their actual liquidity needs and tolerance for a multi-year holding period,” DiMaio said.

Eric Freedman, chief investment officer at Chicago-based Northern Trust Wealth Management, warned that access alone is no reason to invest. He also said brand names and herd mentality can cloud judgment, a tension also raised by advisors fielding client demand for pre-IPO SpaceX exposure. He sees client curiosity as a chance to check a portfolio’s AI exposure and broaden into healthcare and natural resources.

“Ultimately, the price paid for a company determines the value realized over time. With IPOs, speculation around index inclusion and other non-fundamental factors can fuel investor enthusiasm. Our view remains that investors should stay disciplined, focusing on a well-constructed private markets program rather than becoming overly focused on any single company,” Freedman said.