Anthropic is still months away from what is expected to be one of the most closely watched IPOs in artificial intelligence, but Tema ETFs is already making a high-conviction bet on the startup.

The asset manager has added exposure to Anthropic through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in its month-old Tema Photonics & Optical ETF (LAZR), making the AI company its largest holding at about 12% of the fund. The move gives investors one of the highest levels of pre-IPO Anthropic exposure available through an ETF while maintaining LAZR's existing 75-basis-point management fee.

In an interview with MarketDash, Tema founder and CEO Maurits Pot said the decision reflects the firm's conviction that Anthropic is not just another private AI company but one that sits at the center of the next phase of AI infrastructure.

"Anthropic is a generational company where access has been even more restricted than SpaceX. Anthropic's revenue is reported to be ~$75bn annualized currently and mainly focused on enterprise customers. AI networking infrastructure, i.e. photonics, is an integral bottleneck facing AI currently."

Betting on AI Before the IPO

Anthropic has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI startups, competing with OpenAI in large language models while attracting significant enterprise adoption. Pot believes that trajectory makes it a compelling investment even before it reaches public markets.

"Anthropic is amongst the fastest growing technology companies ever, with a leading edge in enterprise LLM, where adoption/price risk and China model risk is low. Anthropic is on track to exceed $100billion ARR by December-2026 which is unprecedented in terms of speed."

Unlike many investors chasing pre-IPO valuations, Pot said Tema's thesis is built around long-term ownership rather than seeking a quick gain once Anthropic lists.

"We are fundamental long-term investors, we do not invest in privates to arbitrage IPO price discovery or volatility, moreover pre-IPO investors are subject to a lockup. We view Anthropic with a long-term lens."

Why Anthropic Fits a Photonics ETF

At first glance, Anthropic's inclusion in a photonics-focused ETF may appear unusual. Pot argues that the company's AI ambitions are inseparable from the infrastructure needed to power them.

"Anthropic LLM innovation relies heavily on three core infrastructure variables: compute, memory and networking. AI's computational demands require growing chip speed and capacity, which exceeds the conventional limits of copper. Light technology serves the expanding chip speed and capacity requirements to support Anthropic's LLM innovation. Photonics enables and empowers Anthropic's innovation."

That investment thesis underpins LAZR, which invests in companies developing technologies that accelerate data movement between AI chips, servers and data centers.

Pot believes investors continue to underestimate how critical networking has become alongside compute and memory. "AI infrastructure relies on a trifecta of memory, compute and networking. All three are currently constrained for the foreseeable future."

"We believe AI adoption remains early and therefore a wide range of AI investment opportunities lie ahead, both on the infrastructure side and on the LLM side," he added.

A Selective Approach to Private Companies

Tema previously brought private-market exposure to investors through companies including Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SPCX) and Kalshi. Pot said the bar for adding private companies to ETFs remains intentionally high.

"The bar for including a private company in a public ETF is very high, both from size quality and investability perspective. We believe very selectively including privates in an ETF is the right fiduciary approach, without adding fees and while consistently maintaining full transparency."

Asked how many companies currently meet Tema's criteria, Pot's answer was succinct. "Only 5-7 companies, we intentionally keep the bar very high."

The firm said Anthropic exposure is held at cost until its IPO, carries no additional management, brokerage or performance fees beyond LAZR's existing expense ratio, and was acquired at a valuation above the company's last funding round but below current secondary market pricing and the rumored IPO valuation.

Pot said access remains a competitive advantage. "Most <$100bn AUM ETF issuers don't have the connectivity and access to the private companies which we can offer access to, especially without any fees and at responsible valuations."

For investors looking beyond the dominant AI chipmakers, Tema is betting that the next chapter of the AI trade will be shaped as much by the infrastructure enabling AI models like Anthropic as by the models themselves.