Anthropic and Hg reportedly plan a European AI consultancy that would embed engineers inside client companies
The Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the plans, that Anthropic will back an independent consultancy with London private equity firm Hg, due to launch by the end of 2026 with offices in London and Berlin. It would place AI engineers and consultants inside businesses, including Hg portfolio companies; both firms declined to comment.
According to a Financial Times report relayed by The Next Web on October 23, Anthropic is planning to back a new, independent European AI consultancy with Hg, the London-based private equity firm. The venture would put AI engineers and consultants inside businesses to help them build AI-powered products and support deployments already under way, including at companies Hg owns. The report cites people familiar with the matter; Anthropic and Hg declined to comment, so details may still change.
The consultancy is expected to launch by the end of 2026 with offices in London and Berlin, targeting B2B software companies and other white-collar industries. Anthropic would fund its stake from its own balance sheet, while Hg would invest through its funds, including HgCapital Trust. Hg's existing team of about 150 AI specialists would keep working alongside it.
Why it matters for FDEs: this would be another model lab building a dedicated embedded-engineering arm, after Anthropic's US services company Ode and the OpenAI Deployment Company. If it goes ahead, it points to new forward-deployed roles in London and Berlin, aimed at software companies rather than only large enterprises, and more competition with Accenture and the Big Four for the same deployment talent.
Source: thenextweb.com