The MANGOS era has arrived
SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing market debuts that could reshape the technology sector.
Say goodbye to FAANG and the Magnificent Seven, and get used to MANGOS. The tropical fruit has become Wall Street’s newest acronym: Meta, Anthropic, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI and SpaceX. As three of the world’s most valuable private technology companies prepare to go public within months of one another, the center of gravity in the technology sector is shifting decisively toward artificial intelligence.
The acronym combines three established public-market giants, Meta, Nvidia and Google, with three AI-era companies that are still privately held: OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX. When the term first emerged in New York, there was some debate over whether Microsoft should occupy the “M.” But following a series of aggressive AI initiatives by Mark Zuckerberg, the consensus has increasingly shifted toward Meta.
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Elon Musk (from left), Dario Amodei and Sam Altman.
(Photos: JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP, Anna Moneymaker/Getty, I-Hwa CHENG / AFP)
On Monday night, OpenAI revealed that it had confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the United States. The move came just a week after rival Anthropic made a similar announcement. Both are moving toward the public markets while SpaceX, controlled by Elon Musk, is preparing its own blockbuster debut.
Each company is competing for a place in financial history. The current record for the largest IPO remains held by Saudi Aramco, which went public at a valuation of approximately $1.7 trillion in 2019.
According to U.S. media reports, SpaceX has drawn more than $250 billion of investor demand and could debut at a valuation of $1.75 trillion to $1.8 trillion, potentially surpassing Aramco’s record.
Anthropic and OpenAI have not disclosed fundraising targets, but market estimates suggest each could seek around $60 billion at valuations exceeding $1 trillion.
Such valuations would not necessarily represent a major premium over recent private-market transactions. Anthropic recently raised capital at a valuation of $965 billion and has since reportedly crossed the $1 trillion threshold on secondary markets. OpenAI raised $122 billion in its latest financing round at a valuation of $852 billion.
Why Go Public Now?
The timing is hardly accidental.
Major U.S. stock indices, including the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, are trading near record highs after gaining roughly 10% in less than six months.
After several disappointing years for new listings, the IPO market has finally reopened. Expectations that technology IPOs would rebound in 2025 largely failed to materialize, but 2026 has become the strongest year for public offerings since the post-pandemic boom.
Total IPO fundraising has reached approximately $87.5 billion this year. While still well below the $283 billion raised during the record-breaking 2021 market, the addition of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI would transform the landscape.
A New Generation of Investors
The emergence of retail investors as a powerful force in public markets is another key factor.
Since the pandemic-era boom in trading apps, younger investors have become increasingly influential in shaping market trends. Unlike institutional investors and venture capital funds, they have largely been excluded from investing in the biggest AI companies during their private-growth phase.
These investors tend to gravitate toward products and platforms they actively use and understand. For many of them, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude and SpaceX’s space ambitions are far more familiar than traditional enterprise software businesses.
That dynamic could create significant demand for shares once the companies begin trading publicly.
At the same time, timing matters. Historically large IPOs compete for the same pool of capital. A disappointing debut by one company could affect investor appetite for those that follow.
Collectively, the three companies would represent several trillion dollars in market value. Institutional investors tracking major indices would likely be forced to allocate substantial capital to their shares.
The biggest question remains whether investors will accept the extraordinary valuations being discussed.
OpenAI generated approximately $13 billion in revenue during 2025 and approached $6 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2026 alone. Yet the company continues to spend heavily on computing infrastructure and is not expected to achieve profitability in the near term.
Anthropic appears to be in a stronger position financially. According to figures disclosed during its latest fundraising round, the company is operating at an annualized revenue run rate of approximately $47 billion and expects to reach operational break-even this year.
The immense cost of AI infrastructure is also driving these companies toward public markets. Venture capital firms, despite their enormous resources, cannot indefinitely finance the scale of investment required for next-generation AI systems.
The same dynamic has propelled the valuations of AI infrastructure providers. Nvidia has surpassed $5 trillion in market value, while Broadcom and Micron Technology have also benefited from the AI investment boom.
On conventional valuation metrics, the MANGOS companies appear extraordinarily expensive.
Yet history offers a note of caution for skeptics.
When Google went public in 2004 at a valuation of roughly $23 billion, many analysts considered the price excessive. Today the company is worth several trillion dollars.
The same was true when Meta, then Facebook, went public in 2012 at a valuation of $104 billion. Critics questioned both its business model and its growth prospects.
Wall Street ultimately proved more optimistic than the doubters.
Whether OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX follow the same trajectory remains uncertain. But if their IPOs proceed as expected, they will mark one of the most significant shifts in technology investing since the rise of Google and Facebook, and may cement AI's dominance of public markets for years to come.
