At first glance I mistakenly thought London-based AI startup Humanloop had been acquired by US tech giant Anthropic.
“We are thrilled to announce that the Humanloop team is joining Anthropic,” gushed the official announcement.
“From the start, our mission at Humanloop has been to enable the safe and rapid adoption of AI. Now, as the pace of AI progress accelerates, we think Anthropic is the ideal home to amplify our impact.
“We’re excited about this next chapter, joining Anthropic to help build an AI future that benefits everyone.
But here’s the thing.
Anthropic didn’t acquire Humanloop’s assets or intellectual property, instead they hired the top talent – referred to as ‘team’ in the press release – behind the tech startup’s success.
In the case of Humanloop, co-founders Raza Habib, Jordan Burgess, Peter Hayes are now working at Anthropic, along with some engineers and researchers.
There’s no suggestion anyone has done anything wrong but it highlights the fierce war for AI talent and has raised fears that it could make it harder for other startups to raise investment and will suppress innovation.
Seb Johnson, host of The European Tech Show, wrote on LinkedIn: “The AI talent race is HEATING UP. This mirrors other ‘acquisitions’ that have happened when a large tech giant solely values the employees of the company, not the revenue or product itself.
“Google’s attempted hire of Windsurf’s top team is a prominent example, as is Meta’s acquisition of Scale AI.”
First, a quick recap on the main players.
Earlier this year, Anthropic raised $3.5bn in a Series E fundraise at a $61.5bn post-money valuation.
Meanwhile, Humanloop was founded in 2020 by a team of preeminent computer scientists from UCL and Cambridge, and alumni of Google and Amazon to make it easier for companies of all sizes to adopt AI technology.
Anthropic wants to remain at the vanguard of frontier AI systems so attracting the top talent from an exciting UK startup like Humanloop makes a lot of sense.
What’s not clear is where the news leaves Humanloop’s previous investors – Albion, Index, Y Combinator, Local Globe, UCLTF and several angels – or the remaining staff (if they exist) not moving over to Anthropic.
I’ve not found any evidence that the investors are even unhappy.
Y Combinator actually reposted Humanloop’s announcement that its team was moving to Anthropic while Dave Grimm, partner at Albion VC, took on LinkedIn to congratulate the founders.
He wrote: “It’s been a privilege to work with Raza Habib, Peter Hayes and Jordan Burgess and support them on their journey. Well done team Humanloop. Super excited to see what they build at Anthhropic.”
However, other people have expressed concerns.
Concerns
Writing on LinkedIn, Edmund Humenberger, CEO of Synbiotic EDA, wrote: “This is pretty bad news for investors who put money into AI startups and now own an empty shell.”
Jonathan Conway, CTO at Kanexa, added: “I really don’t like this trend at all. It’s just going to make things harder for founders to raise money. Terrible trend for the industry.”
Unsurprisingly, Humanloop’s founders made no reference to ‘reverse acqui-hire’ when announcing the switch to Anthropic.
Humanloop’s CEO Raza Habib, who is now part of Anthropic’s technical staff, wrote on LinkedIn: “Excited to announce the Humanloop team is joining Anthropic.
“I couldn’t imagine a better home for the team. Everyone I’ve interacted with at Anthropic has been incredibly talented, high-trust and conscious of the stakes at play.
“Enormous gratitude to our customers and investors who supported us to get here.”
His co-founder, Jordan Burgess, added: “Delighted to announce this. The Humanloop team is joining Anthropic. Huge thanks for our customers and investors whose support and trust got us here, and to my cofounders Raza Habib and Peter Hayes for an amazing five-year journey. Excited to keep building together right at the frontier.”
Watch this space.