Anthropic is No. 1 on Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026

Claude Code began as an internal tool used by Anthropic engineers to help test AI models and assist with coding projects. It quickly got picked up across the company as developers saw their colleagues using it, and its popularity suggested commercial potential. The company released it to the public early in 2025. Claude Code helped popularize “vibe coding” and helped cement Anthropic’s position as a leader in the fiercely competitive artificial intelligence market. It became one of the fastest growing software tools in history, even as rivals released competing tools. Its impact only accelerated when the February 2026 release of Claude Cowork, designed to let AI help even users without a software development background automate a broader range of tasks, contributed to a selloff of enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) stocks. Since February 2025, Anthropic’s valuation has exploded from $61 billion to nearly $1 trillion, with an initial public offering expected as early as October. {"blockType":"mv-promo-block","data":{"imageDesktopUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/09\/BWFI-SocialPreview-16x9-1.jpg","imageMobileUrl":"https…