DeFiLlama's latest data shows that many pre-IPO technology firms have seen their private valuations more than double over the past year, with AI companies now holding the top two positions on the platform's leaderboard. The ranking signals a clear shift in the global AI industry: the largest pools of private capital are gravitating toward frontier model developers and the infrastructure supporting them.

DeFiLlama, best known for monitoring decentralized finance protocols, is now tracking 182 pre-IPO companies on its pre-IPO board. Anthropic and OpenAI top the list, while other AI-focused companies account for some of the largest one-year valuation gains. Unlike a company's last funding round, which reflects what specific investors paid for preferred shares, such leaderboard figures are estimates of current worth — which is why DeFiLlama's figures can sit above the valuations set in the most recent disclosed rounds.

AI names crowd the top of the board

Many pre-IPO tech companies have seen their private market valuations more than double in the past year. 182 pre-IPO companies now tracked on DefiLlama. pic.twitter.com/6BCK5R2lMH — DefiLlama.com (@DefiLlama) August 27, 2026 (https://x.com/DefiLlama/status/2093029048221864338)

Anthropic leads the ranking with an estimated $1.38 trillion valuation after a 716.89% one-year jump. OpenAI follows at roughly $900.29 billion, up 140.08%.

Further down the list, DeepSeek is valued at $50 billion and Cognition at $35.2 billion after a 325.41% rise, alongside Moonshot AI, Mistral AI, and ElevenLabs. Data-infrastructure company ClickHouse has climbed nearly 3,000% over the year.

The overall top ten features a broader mix of companies, including ByteDance, Stripe, Waymo, Revolut, Anduril, and Shein. Even so, the presence of frontier AI labs at the top underscores how far funding has pivoted toward the sector. For context, the United States was home to 40 of the 50 largest private companies tracked by Nasdaq Private Market's index, and nine of the ten largest private firms worldwide are American — meaning these valuations are disproportionately shaped by US capital flows.

Why $100 billion stopped being rare

The pace at which companies reach mega-cap status has accelerated markedly. On August 19, Forge, a private-market data firm, reported that a $100 billion private valuation was once inconceivable — until ByteDance set that bar in December 2020. The benchmark is now becoming less exceptional.

According to Forge's statistics, xAI reached a $100 billion valuation in just 2.3 years, while Anthropic needed 4.5 years. OpenAI took 8.3 years, Stripe 11.9 years, and Waymo and SpaceX 17.1 and 19.6 years, respectively.

"AI-native businesses reach meaningful revenue, user adoption and strategic relevance faster than the previous generations of tech companies." — Forge, Private Market Update, August 19, 2026

Forge also points to a broader investor base. Sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, corporate investors, and crossover funds now compete with traditional venture capital for access, driving valuations higher at earlier stages.

Capital is chasing the category

The valuation surge mirrors a wider spending boom. Goldman Sachs Research projected on August 7 that global AI-related investment will reach approximately $1 trillion in 2026, including $581 billion in the United States. Economist Joseph Briggs said cumulative AI investment could reach $1.8 trillion by year-end.

Stanford's 2026 AI Index found that global private AI investment rose 127.5% in 2025 to $344.7 billion, with generative AI alone attracting $170.9 billion. Gartner expects spending on AI models and platforms to reach $64.25 billion this year, up 63.4% from 2025.

The public-market wobble private valuations shrugged off

Publicly traded AI stocks have had a rougher ride. Nasdaq Private Market reported on July 24 that hyperscaler stocks fell 12% from a May 29 peak, while AI chip names dropped 13% from their June 22 peak.

Private markets proved more resilient. Nasdaq Private Market's tracker of the 50 largest private companies was up 62% year to date, compared with 8% for the S&P 500. From around June 1, the private-market tracker still gained 10%. The divergence partly reflects how private valuations are set: they adjust through funding rounds and secondary transactions rather than continuous public trading, so they tend to move more slowly than listed shares — a lag that cuts both ways if sentiment turns.

"The market is increasingly differentiating between winners with durable competitive advantages and losers whose valuations were driven primarily by enthusiasm." — Nasdaq Private Market, July 24, 2026

What the eventual IPOs mean

A key question is what happens when these companies finally go public. According to Forge, IPOs are shifting from value-creating events to liquidity events, with more of the gain occurring before a company lists.

DeFiLlama currently estimates Anthropic's valuation at around $1.38 trillion and OpenAI's at $900.29 billion, against recent funding valuations of $965 billion and $852 billion, respectively.

According to Cryptopolitan, investment bankers believe the first major AI firm to go public will set a landmark valuation for those that follow. With Anthropic and OpenAI topping DeFiLlama's list of the highest-valued private companies, their eventual IPOs are expected to notably influence how investors view other private and public AI enterprises.