Anthropic acquires AI start-up Vercept to enhance agentic capabilities
What's the story
Anthropic has acquired Vercept, an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up with strong ties to Seattle's tech industry. The acquisition comes after Anthropic's previous purchase of coding agent engine Bun in December to enhance Claude Code. Vercept had developed tools for complex agentic tasks, including Vy, a cloud-based computer-use agent that could control a remote Apple Macbook.
Acquisition details
Vercept was co-founded by former Allen Institute for AI researchers
Vercept, a graduate of Seattle's AI-focused incubator A12, was co-founded by former Allen Institute for AI researchers. One of its co-founders, Matt Deitke, made headlines last year when he negotiated a $250 million compensation package from Meta to join its Superintelligence Lab. Following the acquisition by Anthropic, Vercept's product will be discontinued on March 25.
Funding history
Vercept raised a total of $50 million in funding
Vercept was a well-known AI start-up in the region, having raised a total of $50 million. The company's CEO Kiana Ehsani announced the acquisition on LinkedIn, thanking A12's Seth Bannon for his lead investment. Prior to this, Vercept had also raised a $16 million seed round last January. The company also attracted investments from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean among others.
Team transition
Not all co-founders will be joining Anthropic after acquisition
Not all of Vercept's co-founders will be joining Anthropic after the acquisition. Oren Etzioni, a known figure in Seattle as the founding leader of the Allen Institute for AI, won't be making the transition. He expressed his disappointment over Vercept's decision to shut down and accused Bannon of being "partly responsible" for not hiring the right business people.
Twitter Post
Check out the official post
Vercept is joining Anthropic.
— Vercept (@Vercept_ai) February 25, 2026
When we started Vercept, we set out with a bold vision: to move beyond the mouse, keyboard, and touchscreen and build technology that truly expands human potential. ✨
That mission hasn't changed. It's found a bigger home.
We're thrilled to… pic.twitter.com/IZ8H5NgGdx