Private equity firm Hg is expanding its collaboration with Anthropic to bring Claude’s agentic AI capabilities to its portfolio of software and services businesses, in an effort to accelerate AI-driven value creation.

The partnership will see Hg Catalyst, the firm’s AI product incubator and wider in-house AI team, work directly with Anthropic to deploy agentic AI across portfolio companies. Hg said it now has more than 1,600 live AI projects across its portfolio, representing more than $260m of budgeted core earnings impact, up fivefold since the firms began working together.

Hg and Anthropic have worked together since early 2024 on AI hackathons, staff training and deployment projects. The expanded relationship will focus on using agentic AI within the workflows and systems operated by Hg’s portfolio companies, with Claude providing the underlying intelligence layer.

Hg, which is based out of London and one of Europe's largest private equity firms, specialising in software, technology and business-services companies, said AI was already contributing to portfolio outcomes, pointing to Quantios, which launched its first agentic AI solution in March 2026 before being sold to Vista Equity Partners.

It also mentioned GTreasury and Intelerad, arguing that companies with credible product-embedded AI strategies are attracting increased buyer interest.

Hg co-CEOs Steve Batchelor and JB Brian said: “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.”

Guillaume Princen, head of international, digital native businesses at Anthropic, added: “Agentic AI is transforming how people scale software businesses. With Claude, Hg's portfolio gets frontier agentic AI, but also the highest safety standards so they can trust agents with critical workflows.”

Meanwhile, Anthropic’s rapid growth and potential IPO, which is expected before the end of the year, have intensified debate over the AI company’s valuation, with reported expectations of as much as $2trn. Investors have raised questions around the sustainability of its growth, competition from lower-cost Chinese AI models, the substantial infrastructure costs of developing frontier models and the implications of Anthropic’s governance structure for future public shareholders.

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