Anthropic and Hg plan European AI deployment consultancy

Anthropic and Hg, a technology investment firm based in London, have agreed to start a separate European consulting company that will help businesses use artificial intelligence (AI). The new company would send AI experts and engineers to work directly inside customers' businesses. The goal is to make the company worth more than $10 billion within five years, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Friday, based on information from people who know about the plans.

According to the FT, Anthropic would invest money from its own finances, while Hg would invest money from funds it manages. The new company is expected to open before the end of 2026, with main offices in London and Berlin. Both Anthropic and Hg refused to comment, the FT said. Neither company has publicly confirmed the financial details, how much of the new business each would own, or what it would be called.

The FT described the partnership as one way Anthropic hopes to make more money to support its very large spending on data centres. It could also help attract investors before Anthropic's planned first sale of shares to the public, known as an initial public offering (IPO), at a time when people are increasingly worried that AI companies may be valued too highly.

Helping businesses use AI is becoming a major area of competition

If the agreement is confirmed, it would follow a growing trend in how leading AI companies work with business customers this year. On July 15, 2026, Anthropic, Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman introduced Ode with Anthropic. Ode is a separate services company that combines Anthropic's AI models with the help of engineers and business specialists. Its chief executive is Chris Taylor, and its chief technology officer is Eddie Siegel. Both helped start Fractional AI. Other members of the group backing Ode include Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, Apollo Global Management, GIC and Sequoia Capital.

OpenAI made a similar move earlier. On May 11, 2026, it launched the OpenAI Deployment Company as a separate business that OpenAI mostly owns and controls. The company started with more than $4 billion in investment from a group of 19 firms led by TPG. Advent, Bain Capital and Brookfield were also leading founding partners. Like Ode, the OpenAI Deployment Company sends engineers into businesses to change how work gets done using AI, instead of simply selling access to AI models.

The business idea is fairly simple, but this explanation is an analysis, not something the companies have officially said. Helping customers put AI to work brings in money through service contracts. It also encourages customers to use more of the AI models behind those services. For an AI company planning to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on computing power, a connected consulting business can earn money from setting up AI systems without the AI company having to employ all those consultants directly.

Anthropic's planned stock market listing

The reported European plan comes just weeks before Anthropic is expected to sell shares to the public for the first time. According to a draft IPO document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and reported by Reuters, Anthropic had a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first six months of 2026. That was up from $13 billion during the same period a year earlier. About $72 billion of the loss came from an accounting charge that did not involve paying out cash. The charge was connected to bonds that can be turned into company shares. Anthropic spent nearly $9 billion on buildings, equipment and computing power during the first half of 2026, compared with $2.3 billion in the same period of 2025. It has also promised to spend at least $518 billion over ten years on infrastructure, computing power and cloud services.

Reuters reported that Anthropic told possible investors it made $16.8 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2026, which was 45 percent more than in the previous quarter. The company also said it was profitable when measured using adjusted accounting figures. According to the same reporting, Anthropic is expected to list its shares in November. Meetings with possible investors are planned for the week of November 9. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are leading the process, and the shares are expected to trade on Nasdaq. Some investors are now thinking the company could be worth around $1.5 trillion, less than earlier estimates of $1.8 trillion to $2 trillion. For 2025, the draft IPO document shows revenue of nearly $4.6 billion, an operating loss of more than $8 billion and a net loss of around $42 billion.

What Hg can offer and what has not been confirmed

According to Hg's own published information, dated June 30, 2026, the firm manages more than $110 billion in assets. It has over 420 employees working across London, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco and Singapore. Hg also owns investments in more than 60 technology and services businesses, with a combined business value of more than $195 billion. The firm says it has more than 100 AI specialists helping those businesses across eight types of software, including software for employee pay, taxes, healthcare information technology and insurance. The FT reported that Hg has 150 AI experts already helping companies it invests in use technology, and that the new consulting company would not replace those experts.

• What the companies have confirmed: Nothing so far. Neither Anthropic nor Hg has made an official announcement.
• What the FT reported, based on people familiar with the plans: The new business aims to be worth more than $10 billion within five years. It would have offices in London and Berlin, start operating by the end of 2026, and receive investment from Anthropic's own money and funds managed by Hg.
• What is already documented: Ode with Anthropic launched on July 15, 2026, and the OpenAI Deployment Company launched on May 11, 2026, with more than $4 billion in starting investment.

For now, there is an important difference between a goal reported by a newspaper and a plan officially confirmed by the companies. The next important dates are Anthropic's expected stock market listing in November and the planned launch of the new consulting company before the end of the year, as reported by the FT. Neither event has been confirmed by the companies involved.