Anthropic Teams With PE Giant Hg on European AI Consultancy, Embedding Engineers Inside Client Firms

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According to a Financial Times exclusive published October 23, Anthropic and London-based private equity firm Hg (about $70 billion in assets under management) have agreed to jointly fund an independent AI consultancy, headquartered in London and Berlin, expected to begin operations by the end of 2026.

The playbook: AI consultants and engineers embed directly inside European companies, helping them build AI products and integrate Claude into existing workflows — while also serving companies in Hg's portfolio, such as accounting group Azets and IoT firm AMDT.

On funding structure, Anthropic will contribute capital from its own balance sheet, while Hg will invest through the funds it manages, including London-listed HgCapital Trust. The two firms' relationship dates back to 2024, and Hg already employs 150 AI specialists.

The move takes direct aim at Accenture and the Big Four — consultancies that themselves resell Claude to large clients. Anthropic is now competing with its own channel partners for the same implementation revenue.

It extends the US playbook: in July, Anthropic set up the $1.5 billion US services company Ode with Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman (plus Goldman Sachs, Apollo, General Atlantic and others); in May, OpenAI launched the OpenAI Deployment Company with TPG, Advent, Bain and Brookfield. Both labs are turning "embedded engineers" into a second business alongside models.

The timing matters too: Anthropic is preparing a November IPO, and media reports say its draft prospectus shows a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026 (about $72 billion of it a non-cash accounting charge tied to rising convertible-bond valuations). A working consultancy business would add a concrete recurring-revenue chapter to the listing story.