Anthropic and Hg launch a European AI consultancy: Claude engineers embedded in client firms, hubs in London and Berlin

• The Financial Times reported on October 23, 2026 that Anthropic has agreed with Hg, a London-based private equity firm, to back a new independent European AI consultancy — the lab's first standalone consultancy in Europe.
• The venture is expected to launch by the end of 2026, with hubs in London and Berlin, embedding consultants and engineers inside European businesses to build new AI products and services and integrate AI into current operations.
• It will also work with companies in Hg's portfolio. Anthropic will fund its share from its own balance sheet; Hg invests through funds it manages, including the London-listed HgCapital Trust. No investment figure was reported.
• Hg already employs around 150 AI specialists who help introduce AI across its portfolio; the new venture is expected to operate alongside that team, not replace it. Anthropic and Hg have worked together since 2024, and in September Hg extended their collaboration to bring agentic AI to Hg portfolio companies.
• The model follows Ode, Anthropic's US services firm co-founded in July 2026 with Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman with a planned $1.5 billion investment, and OpenAI's Deployment Company, launched in May 2026 with TPG, Advent, Bain Capital and Brookfield.
• Neither Anthropic nor Hg commented to the FT; the report cites people familiar with the matter, and neither immediately replied to PYMNTS' request for comment.

Anthropic has agreed with London private-equity firm Hg to launch an independent AI consultancy in Europe by the end of the year, with hubs in London and Berlin, the Financial Times reported on October 23. It would be the first standalone consultancy the frontier lab has backed in Europe — and a direct assault on the territory of Accenture, Deloitte and the Big Four.

Engineers inside the building

Under the agreement, consultants and engineers from the new company will be embedded inside European businesses to help them design new AI-powered products or support projects already under way, PYMNTS reported, citing the FT's account. The firm's client work will also extend across Hg's own portfolio of companies. The target market is business-software firms and other white-collar industries pursuing AI adoption, according to Dealroom's summary of the report.

On the money side, Anthropic will fund its share of the venture from its own balance sheet, while Hg invests through the funds it manages, including the London-listed HgCapital Trust, TipRanks reported. One caveat: the story rests entirely on the FT's unnamed sources. Both Anthropic and Hg declined to comment to the FT, and neither immediately replied to PYMNTS' request for comment.

The Ode playbook, now in Europe

The European venture is a regional copy of a template Anthropic already validated in the United States. In July 2026, the lab co-founded Ode, a standalone services company with Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman — a planned $1.5 billion investment combining Anthropic's models with experienced AI engineers and operators, with Goldman Sachs, Apollo Global and General Atlantic among the other backers. OpenAI has run the same play since May 2026 with its Deployment Company, built alongside TPG, Advent, Bain Capital and Brookfield.

The Anthropic–Hg relationship is not new: the two have worked together since 2024, and in September Hg extended its existing collaboration with Anthropic to bring agentic AI capabilities to Hg's portfolio companies, PYMNTS reported. Hg already employs around 150 AI specialists who deploy AI across its holdings; one source told the FT the new consultancy would operate alongside that team rather than replace it. Hg's portfolio becomes a ready-made client pipeline — its holdings include the accountancy group Azets and the internet-of-things provider AMDT.

The Big Four just got a new rival

The FT's analysis, echoed by Aju Press, is blunt: Anthropic's direct entry into consulting could threaten Accenture, Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — the firms that have been earning lucrative fees steering companies through technology shifts, and in some cases reselling Claude itself to large clients. A lab that sends its own engineers into the client's office is now chasing the same budgets.