Technology investor Hg has agreed to invest alongside Anthropic and other backers in a new European artificial intelligence transformation company that will help established businesses develop AI-enabled products and integrate the technology into their operations.
The independently operated venture, provisionally described as ServiceCo, is expected to launch before the end of 2026. It will build on Anthropic’s Claude AI technology and use specialist engineers working directly with customers to develop applications suited to their existing operations.
HgCapital Trust, the London-listed investment company managed by Hg, will participate as a direct co-investor. Other institutional investors will gain exposure through the Hg Saturn Fund, while Anthropic and angel investors are also participating in the transaction.
The investment terms have not been disclosed, and the company has not yet confirmed its final name, executive management team or initial customer portfolio.
The venture is intended to serve European businesses with established intellectual property, specialist industry knowledge and long-standing customer relationships. These organisations may already operate proprietary software and complex processes that require additional engineering work before AI can be integrated into everyday activities.
Rather than providing access to a general-purpose model alone, the company intends to deploy engineers who work alongside customer teams to develop software and connect AI capabilities with existing systems. That approach places implementation within the organisation’s established technology and operational environment.
The proposed service will use Claude as its underlying technology, with development work tailored to individual customers. Hg and Anthropic expect this to include building AI-enabled product capabilities and changing established business processes where the technology can be integrated into existing operations.
The investment follows a commercial relationship between Hg and Anthropic that began in early 2024. The two companies have previously collaborated on employee training, software development activities and the deployment of AI capabilities across Hg’s portfolio businesses.
In September, Hg expanded that relationship through a programme involving its internal technology teams and Hg Catalyst, its AI product incubation operation. The programme is intended to support the development of agentic AI applications across software and services companies in the investor’s portfolio.
At that point, Hg reported more than 1,600 active AI projects across its portfolio, representing over $260m in budgeted earnings impact. The figure describes anticipated benefits included in project budgets rather than earnings already realised or independently audited.
Those projects provide a foundation of implementation experience for the wider commercial venture. Hg’s portfolio includes established technology and services businesses operating in sectors where software is embedded in specialist industry processes and customer relationships.
The new company will extend the focus beyond Hg’s internal portfolio work, creating a separately operated business intended to offer transformation and product development services to European organisations more widely.
Anthropic’s participation as an investor adds a direct commercial connection with the developer of the Claude technology on which the venture’s services will initially be based. Its engineering-led model also places responsibility for integration and implementation with teams working on individual customer requirements.
The venture’s European focus reflects the complexity of operating across markets with different languages, business practices and regulatory requirements. Customers developing applications for several jurisdictions may need to address those differences within their software and operational systems.
Hg and Anthropic have not disclosed the venture’s expected revenue, staffing levels or initial commercial contracts. The next development will be its formal launch, when the partners are expected to provide further details of the management structure and services available to customers.
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