Anthropic and Hg reportedly plan AI consultancy for European firms

Anthropic is planning to back a new European AI consultancy with Hg, the London-based private equity firm, the Financial Times reported.

The independent company will place AI engineers and consultants inside businesses to help them build and deploy the technology.

The report cites people familiar with the matter, and Anthropic and Hg declined to comment to the FT.

The consultancy’s engineers will help companies design new AI-powered products or support projects already under way. The firm will also work with businesses owned by Hg, according to the people familiar with the plans.

The venture is expected to launch by the end of 2026, with offices in London and Berlin. Its main targets will be software companies selling to businesses, along with other white-collar industries.

Anthropic will fund its share of the venture from its own balance sheet, while Hg will invest through the funds it manages, including the London-listed HgCapital Trust.

The move would mark Anthropic’s first investment in a standalone consultancy in Europe. The company has worked with Hg’s portfolio businesses since 2024 and has also partnered with other European private equity firms.

Hg already employs around 150 AI specialists who help introduce the technology across its portfolio. The new consultancy is expected to operate alongside that team, rather than replace it, one source told the FT.

The plan follows a model Anthropic has already pursued in the US. Earlier this year, it established Ode, a services company backed by Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman, with $1.5 billion in planned investment. Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global were among the other investors.

OpenAI has taken a similar approach. In May, it launched the OpenAI Deployment Company with private equity firms TPG, Advent, Bain Capital and Brookfield.

These ventures bring AI developers into more direct competition with established IT consultancies, including Accenture and the Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. Advising businesses on technology adoption is already a major source of revenue for those companies, the FT noted.

For Anthropic, the European venture would also open another route to revenue as it spends heavily on data centres ahead of a planned stock market listing. Moreover, the FT reported last week that the company’s revenue growth slowed in the third quarter.