Anthropic’s Enterprise AI Venture Buys Consultancy

A joint venture established by Anthropic and Wall Street firms such as Blackstone has made its first acquisition since its July launch as it looks to boost the growth of Claude, Anthropic’s chatbot, among businesses.

Anthropic’s venture, Ode, plans to announce Thursday that it is buying an AI consultancy, Casper Studios, which helps businesses develop applications using AI, according to Ode. It’s making the acquisition at a time when corporate executives are trying to figure out how to get the most from AI and are wary of rising bills from the new technology.

“You can actually accomplish a lot of what you need…using all of the tooling that Anthropic is building on top of their models,” said Chris Taylor, CEO and co-founder of Ode.

The four-year-old Casper Studios employs a dozen or so technical consultants. Casper says it has worked with Netflix, Pepsi, private equity firms and hedge funds. The purchase price couldn’t be learned.

Headquartered in San Francisco, Ode currently employs over 100 people, who often work alongside Anthropic engineers to integrate AI into businesses in industries such as accounting and healthcare. It launched in July after the Anthropic–private equity joint venture bought Fractional AI, another applied AI services firm that Taylor and Ode Chief Technology Officer Eddie Siegel founded together.

Earlier this summer, Ode announced it would be building custom products with IT consulting firms Baker Tilly and Citrin Cooperman.

Anthropic is in the midst of unprecedented growth, largely based on the strength of its AI coding models, which appeal to developers even as costs per user have jumped. Businesses such as retailer Restoration Hardware are also buying Anthropic’s Claude chatbot and related tools, enabling their workforces to automate finance, project management and other tasks.

Anthropic is trying to beat back a charge from OpenAI, which is reorienting itself as an enterprise-focused firm, and from open-source models that could help buyers save on costs.

But Anthropic and OpenAI have each acknowledged that for some businesses, using AI isn’t a cinch—hence the need for consultants, also known as forward-deployed engineers. These consultants often work on-site with customers to help them organize their files and proprietary data so the AI can make sense of it, and also to help them develop apps for automating functions such as customer support.

OpenAI is a major investor in its own joint venture to sell AI to enterprises, The Deployment Co., which has raised $4 billion at a $10 billion valuation from backers including TPG, Brookfield Asset Management, Bain Capital and Advent International. The Deployment Co. has used some of its new money to buy firms that employ hundreds of the consultants helping companies integrate customized AI models and systems.

Meanwhile, Thrive Holdings, a one-year-old holding company started by OpenAI investor Thrive Capital, recently raised $2 billion from outside investors. It takes stakes in and operates companies that own small accounting and services businesses: The idea is to transform those traditional businesses by automating routine work. OpenAI provides researchers as well as product and engineering for the venture, though Thrive Holdings’ businesses aren’t restricted from using non-OpenAI models, including open-source ones.

Anthropic created Ode with Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital and other firms, which together invested $1.5 billion in the new company. Many of the companies Ode does work for are backed by the private equity firms.