Anthropic and Hg reportedly agree to create European AI consultancy

Anthropic and private equity firm Hg have agreed to create an independent company to help European businesses deploy AI, the Financial Times reported on October 23, citing unnamed sources, according to PYMNTS. The proposed consultancy would put consultants and engineers inside client businesses, making hands-on implementation—not simply access to AI tools—the service it would provide.

A year-end launch, with two European hubs

The consultancy is expected to launch by the end of 2026, with hubs in London and Berlin, under the reported agreement. Neither Anthropic nor Hg immediately responded to PYMNTS’s requests for comment.

Hg backed the shift toward agentic AI early, and the relationship we have built with Anthropic is central to that. As AI reshapes how software businesses build and compete, we want our portfolio companies to have a direct line to the frontier and are excited to continue to deepen our relationship with Anthropic.

Steve Batchelor and JB Brian, Hg co-CEOs, in Hg’s September 21 announcement

A relationship already built around implementation

The partners already have a deployment relationship. In its September 21 announcement, Hg said its AI product incubator, Hg Catalyst, and its broader internal AI team would work directly with Anthropic to bring Claude’s capabilities to companies in Hg’s portfolio. That effort focused on businesses backed by the investment firm.

Hg described a division of roles: its portfolio companies typically own the core business records and workflows in their sectors, while Anthropic supplies the AI tools. The collaboration aims to connect those tools to the systems and processes the businesses already operate.

Hg dated the relationship to early 2024 and described joint hackathons, staff training and embedded deployment work across its portfolio. The reported consultancy would give that kind of implementation work a different organizational form: an independent company serving European businesses, rather than the portfolio-focused collaboration Hg described in September.