Anthropic has made two major moves that underscore its ambition to dominate the enterprise AI landscape. On Tuesday, the company unveiled Ode with Anthropic, a new $1.5 billion AI implementation firm backed by private equity giants Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman. Formed from the acquisition of Fractional AI in May 2026, Ode sends teams of elite engineers into companies to build and deploy custom AI tools using a “Claude-first” approach, though it remains free to use rival models when necessary. CEO Chris Taylor, who co-founded Fractional AI, stated that the typical client is a CEO personally driving AI adoption, and he boldly remarked that Ode could become “a trillion-dollar company if we execute well.” The venture’s initial 100 engineers are largely former founders, and the company will leverage Anthropic’s applied AI team while targeting sectors like finance, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing. Backers also include Goldman Sachs, Sequoia Capital, and Apollo Global Management.
Simultaneously, Anthropic is accelerating its path to the public markets. Reports indicate that the company is arranging investor meetings with the help of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase, with a potential IPO as soon as October 2026. This follows confidential filing last month and a May funding round that valued Anthropic at $965 billion, surpassing OpenAI’s reported $852 billion valuation. If listed, Anthropic could beat OpenAI to the public markets, as OpenAI’s debut is now expected in 2027. The moves come amid intense investor interest in AI, fueled partly by SpaceX’s large June IPO, but Anthropic still faces regulatory uncertainties, including tensions with the Trump administration and a lawsuit against the Defense Department. Together, the Ode launch and IPO preparations signal Anthropic’s strategic push to cement its leadership in both AI deployment and capital markets.
