According to Forge Global, a leading financial services platform, a total of seven of the highest-valued private tech companies are now worth $1.3 trillion on paper, almost double from the previous year.
Leading the way is the AI startup that initiated the AI arms race, Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Forge values the startup at $324 billion, followed by Anthropic at $178 billion, and xAI at $90 billion. All of these notable names have witnessed their valuations soar driven by the AI boom.
According to Forge CEO Kelly, this valuation surge is reflective of actual growth, not just projections.
“We’ve not seen this in the private market ever,” he said. “Companies that are growing at 100%, 200%, 300% on numbers that are already pretty big.”
Forge stated that 19 AI firms have raised $65 billion so far this year, and with the kind of cash they have available, they have little incentive of going public.
“If these stocks are liquid and have access to as much capital as they can get, regulation is probably the only thing stopping them from staying private for as long as they want,” he said.
Rodriques believes that these valuations are “insane” and also admitted that yes, “we are in a bubble.” Nevertheless, he is still betting big.
“You should expect OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on datacenter construction. We will spend maybe more aggressively than any company who’s ever spent on anything… because we just have this very deep belief in what we’re seeing.”
For this article, we selected AI stocks by going through news articles, stock analysis, and press releases. These stocks are also popular among hedge funds. The hedge fund data is as of Q2 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
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10. Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 65
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) is one of the 10 Must-Watch AI Stocks on Wall Street. On September 16, Stifel analyst David Grossman lowered the price target on the stock to $315.00 from $355.00 while maintaining a Buy rating.
The firm noted how Accenture has lagged the equal-weight S&P by an estimated 2500 basis points over the last 90 days driven by flattish to low-single-digit industry growth and stronger performance of AI-leveraged software and semiconductor sectors.
Several higher-risk areas were highlighted for Accenture, including Song (digital marketing), application services, and government services (DOGE). The firm has deemed these headwinds to be legitimate while suggesting market fears “could easily exceed reality.”
Looking ahead, the firm anticipates potential outperformance with an estimated 2% year-over-year constant currency organic revenue growth backed by stable macroeconomic conditions and stronger U.S. federal results.
Stifel has deemed the risk-reward profile to be “very compelling” for patient investors.
Accenture plc (NYSE:ACN) offers strategy and consulting services.
9. CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 66
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is one of the 10 Must-Watch AI Stocks on Wall Street. On September 18, Mizuho analyst Gregg Moskowitz raised the price target on the stock to $475.00 (from $450.00) while maintaining a Neutral rating.
The price target raise follows Day 2 of CrowdStrike’s annual user conference, Fal.Con 2025, and its investor meeting in Las Vegas. Firm analysts noted how the conference proved to be “relatively uneventful,” but the investor meeting brought in significant news regarding the company.
According to the analysts, Crowdstrike eased investor concerns regarding its previous noncommittal view on next year’s Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). It did so by providing guidance for over 20% net new ARR growth for fiscal year 2027.
This, the firm noted, was “significantly above consensus.” The firm also highlighted that CrowdStrike’s cloud security platform remains “very differentiated” with an unrivaled go-to-market strategy,
This edge will help it to successfully expand into higher-growth markets. Nevertheless, moderated channel checks in recent quarters and valuation at a nearly 20x 2026 EV/ARR which will leave a balanced risk/reward.
CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRWD) is a leader in AI-driven endpoint and cloud workload protection.
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