Anthropic has formally launched the consulting business that it previewed in May.

The venture is called Ode with Anthropic. It will help clients build applications using the AI company’s Claude model series. On the organizational side, Ode is structured as a joint venture between Anthropic and a group of large financial institutions. The consortium has reportedly invested $1.5 billion in the business to jumpstart its growth efforts.

Ode is built around the workforce of a San Francisco machine learning consultancy called Fractional AI that Anthropic bought earlier this year. The venture reportedly employs about 100 professionals. Those staffers provide, among other offerings, forward deployed engineering services. A forward deployed engineer is an employee of a consulting firm who works at a client organization’s offices.

Anthropic has indicated that Ode will place particular emphasis on working with midmarket companies. Such firms, which employ up to a few thousand workers, are pursuing AI initiatives much like the Fortune 500 but don’t have access to as much technical talent. Hiring a consultancy such as Ode can be simpler than assembling an in-house AI team.

The launch of the venture comes a few months after Anthropic unveiled its channel program. The Claude Partner Network offers technical certifications, co-marketing campaigns and other resources. In May, Anthropic expanded the program with a partner track geared specifically towards consulting firms.

Like Ode, Anthropic’s consulting partners help companies build Claude-powered AI applications. Such value proposition overlaps can add complexity to go-to-market initiatives. We asked Anthropic what the launch of Ode means for its professional services ecosystem. 

“Anthropic will continue to work with the entire Claude Partner Network to serve enterprise and commercial customers,” Anthropic spokesperson Ryan Styrk told Boardroom Insight. “Through this growing ecosystem of partners, customers can get hands-on support implementing our technology and more quickly realizing value.”

The partner section of the Claude website currently lists more than two dozen consulting firms. The group includes several of the professional services sector’s biggest names. Notably, many of those companies also work with Anthropic rival OpenAI. Two of the firms on the list, Bain and Capgemini, are investors in OpenAI’s newly launched professional services venture.

The multi-provider approach to AI sourcing that Anthropic’s consulting partners are taking is also being adopted by Ode. The venture recently stated that it plans to prioritize Claude but will use competing products when needed. 

Image courtesy of Anthropic