The Largest Private Companies in the World by Valuation

The largest private companies in the world are now worth more than most listed companies. Anthropic's May 2026 round valued it at about US$965 billion and OpenAI's March 2026 round at US$852 billion, more than all but a handful of public companies. ByteDance, Databricks, Stripe and Revolut are each worth more than many household-name banks and software firms. This guide ranks the most valuable private companies in our database by their latest sourced valuation, explains what those numbers mean, and shows how to track them.

Every figure below links to a full company profile with the source, date and type of transaction behind it. Private valuations change often and are set in different ways, so the date and context matter as much as the number.

The ranking

The table lists the most valuable private companies we profile, using each company's latest valuation from a funding round, tender offer or secondary sale. Valuations in other currencies are shown as reported.

We only rank companies for which we've published a sourced profile. Some very large private companies have no disclosed valuation: Tether, for example, earned about US$10 billion in 2025 and explored a sale of shares at up to US$500 billion, but no deal had closed, so it is not ranked. SpaceX, previously the largest private company in the world, listed on Nasdaq in June 2026.

What the leaders have in common

Looking across the top of the list, a few patterns stand out.

• Artificial intelligence dominates. Anthropic, OpenAI, Safe Superintelligence, Scale AI, Perplexity, Moonshot AI, Sierra, Harvey and Mistral AI are AI companies, and Databricks and Crusoe sell the data and computing infrastructure AI runs on.
• Fintech is the other giant category. Stripe, Revolut, Ramp, Ripple, Kalshi and Trade Republic show how payments, banking and trading still produce enormous private companies.
• Defense has become a venture category. Anduril and Helsing were barely known a decade ago and are now among the most valuable startups anywhere.
• Most are American. The US dominates, but the UK (Revolut, Nscale), Germany (Helsing, Trade Republic), France (Mistral AI), Sweden (Lovable), Australia (Canva) and China (ByteDance, Xiaohongshu and Moonshot AI) all have companies near the top.

Why companies stay private longer

Twenty years ago, a fast-growing technology company typically went public within five to eight years of founding. Today many of the most valuable companies have stayed private for well over a decade. Several things changed.

• Abundant private capital. Sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, crossover investors and large venture funds can now write cheques of billions of dollars, so companies no longer need public markets to raise large sums.
• Liquidity without listing. Regular tender offers and secondary sales let employees and early investors sell shares, removing one of the main pressures to go public. Stripe, Canva, Revolut and Databricks all use them.
• Public company costs. Quarterly reporting, regulatory obligations and share price scrutiny are burdens that many founders prefer to avoid while they invest heavily for growth.
• Control. Staying private makes it easier for founders to keep control and pursue long-term strategies without activist investors.

How private valuations are set

A private company's valuation isn't a market price that changes every second like a share price. It's set at specific moments, and the method matters:

• Primary funding rounds: new investors buy newly issued shares at an agreed price. This is the most common source of headline valuations. Our guide to post-money valuation explains the maths.
• Tender offers: investors buy shares from employees and early holders, often at a price agreed with the company. Stripe's and Notion's latest valuations came from tender offers.
• Secondary sales: existing shareholders sell to new investors. Revolut's and Vinted's latest valuations came from secondaries.
• Strategic deals: large investments from corporations, like Meta's in Scale AI, can set a valuation that reflects strategic as well as financial value.

Valuations from different methods aren't always directly comparable. Preferred shares sold in primary rounds often carry protections such as liquidation preferences, which can make the headline valuation higher than what ordinary shares are really worth.

How fast the top of the list is changing

The ranking moves quickly. In 2021, the most valuable startups list was dominated by fintech and consumer internet companies. After the 2022 market correction, several of those companies saw their valuations cut sharply in later rounds, a process explained in our guide to down rounds. Since 2023, AI has driven most of the biggest increases. Several companies on this list doubled or tripled their valuation within a single year: Anduril went from US$30.5 billion to US$61 billion between mid-2025 and May 2026, Lovable from US$6.6 billion to US$13.3 billion in eight months, and Harvey rose about 40% in six months.

That speed means any ranking is a snapshot. A single new funding round can move a company up or down several places.

Valuation versus revenue

A high valuation doesn't necessarily mean a large business today. Some companies on the list have substantial revenue and profits; others have little or none. Comparing a few:

• Revenue-heavy: OpenAI said it was earning about US$2 billion a month in early 2026; Stripe, Revolut and Databricks have revenue in the billions.
• Early revenue: Anduril reported about US$2.2 billion in 2025 revenue, substantial but far below its valuation.
• Little or no revenue: Safe Superintelligence has no product by design, and Figure AI's commercial revenue is small. Their valuations rest on expectations.

Our guide to ARR versus revenue explains why the revenue figures private companies quote need careful reading, and our guide to valuation multiples explains how investors compare value with revenue.

How to track the largest private companies

If you follow private markets for investing, sales or research, a few habits help:

1. Record the date and source of every figure. Valuations quoted in the press often refer to different rounds.
2. Note the transaction type. Primary round, tender offer, secondary sale or reported talks all mean different things.
3. Distinguish confirmed from reported. Many valuations appear first as "in talks" stories. We only record closed or officially announced transactions as valuations.
4. Watch regulatory filings. In the US, Form D filings can reveal funding rounds before they're announced.
5. Follow the company's own announcements. Press releases and blog posts are usually the most accurate source for headline figures.

Our guide to tracking startup funding rounds covers these methods in detail, and our private company database lets you filter companies by sector, country and revenue data.

Can you invest in these companies?

For most individuals, direct investment is difficult. Shares in private companies are generally sold only to accredited or professional investors, through funds or secondary platforms, often with high minimums and restrictions on transfer. Some newer routes, such as funds that hold private company shares and the participation of retail investors through bank channels in OpenAI's 2026 round, have widened access slightly. Our guide to investing in pre-IPO companies explains the options and the risks.

What to watch next

Several companies on this list have discussed or prepared for IPOs, including OpenAI, Kalshi and Crusoe. A listing turns a private valuation into a public market price, which can be higher or lower than the last round. Watch IPO filings, new funding rounds at higher valuations, and any companies whose valuations fall in new rounds, which would signal a cooling market.