Anthropic Brings AI Capital Into Consulting's Boardroom

Anthropic plans to launch an AI consultancy in Europe after partnering with London-based private equity firm Hg, placing a technology vendor and an investment firm in direct competition with established consulting giants. The deal brings corporate advice, AI implementation and the search for returns together. Firms and their executives will decide what gets deployed; the article gives no account of how workers will shape those choices.

A market built around corporate clients

The Big Four — KPMG, EY, PwC and Deloitte — reported roughly 2 per cent UK revenue growth in the last financial year. General consulting and advisory work fell into the red, while mandatory regulatory work and specialised AI and technology-transformation advice drove growth. The figures describe a market where firms are turning to technology advice as other parts of the business weaken.

Boston Consulting Group said in April that its global firm reached $14.4 billion (£10.6 billion), a single-digit increase over the previous year, and credited AI for the modest growth. Consulting firms have increasingly presented themselves as technology firms, following Accenture, Capgemini and IBM. Their business depends on connecting complex technology with corporate clients. Anthropic is entering that market as the company behind the AI models it hopes businesses will adopt, not as a disinterested observer.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, called the move “Anthropic parking its tanks on the European consultancy lawn” and said it would probably find itself “inundated with potential customers.” The commercial promise is clear: access to technology and clients could help Anthropic sell the work of putting that technology inside corporate organisations.

The sales pitch meets the balance sheet

Anthropic plans to use the consultancy to generate revenue and offset some of its high data-centre, computing and infrastructure costs. Ahead of its long-awaited IPO, people anticipated a market value between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion. On Monday, the company disclosed billions of dollars in losses. Revenue reached $16.3 billion in the six months to June, while the company reported a net loss of $80.7 billion for the same period, including about $72 billion in non-cash accounting adjustments linked to convertible debt and financing instruments.

James Ransome, head of consulting at Patrick Morgan, said Hg’s portfolio companies could give the new business “an immediate client base,” helping it demonstrate results without competing for every engagement from scratch. The arrangement connects investment capital, a technology supplier and companies in Hg’s portfolio. A route to clients forms part of the deal.

Olly Purnell, co-founder and managing partner of Q5, questioned whether private equity’s priorities fit consulting’s need for long-term planning. “Consultants want a multi-decade relationship with clients, and private equity is all about pushing EBITDA results and having an exit after three to five years,” he said. The article says external funders have also circled the wider professional-services industry. Advice sold as a durable relationship now meets an ownership model focused on financial results and an exit.

Advice from the vendor

Fiona Czerniawska, founder and CEO of Source Global Research, said Anthropic’s model appeared to rely on a substantial market for AI consulting and embedding AI engineers in client organisations. She liked the appeal of having people “producing actual stuff,” but added: “it’s all about a search for profits.” A consultancy owned by a technology vendor might not offer senior executives genuinely independent advice; it could work as an in-house sales tool.

Czerniawska said consulting firms bring “not so much independence” as the ability to deploy different options depending on what a client wants to see. She said that model could make it harder for Anthropic to develop client relationships. Jeff Soar, founding partner, WTS UK, stressed “relationships and history of working together” and said “there needs to still be that human piece.” Ransome drew a distinction between “developing AI technology” and “successfully transforming a multinational business.”

Industry experts said the new entrant had not made consulting firms panic. Shares in listed firms such as Capgemini and Accenture did not fall significantly over the weekend, unlike after Anthropic’s legal tool appeared earlier in the year, when shares in some of Europe’s largest legal-software groups tumbled in the weeks that followed. Anthropic wants to establish the consultancy in London and regards “Britain as a lucrative market.” The contest is over who gets to sell the machinery of corporate transformation—and who gets to call that advice independent.