Anthropic announced on Wednesday its acquisition of Vercept, an artificial intelligence startup with significant connections within Seattle’s vibrant tech community. This strategic move follows Anthropic's December acquisition of Bun, a coding agent engine, aimed at enhancing its Claude Code capabilities.
Vercept specialized in developing tools for intricate agentic tasks, notably its product Vy, a cloud-based computer-use agent capable of operating a remote Apple Macbook. The startup was recognized as a pioneer in the burgeoning field of reimagining personal computing for the era of AI agents. As a direct consequence of the acquisition, Anthropic will discontinue Vercept’s product offerings on March 25.
The startup emerged from A12, Seattle’s AI-focused incubator, which itself originated from the esteemed Allen Institute for AI. Vercept’s co-founders also shared a history with the Allen Institute, having previously served as researchers there. One of these co-founders, Matt Deitke, garnered attention last year for reportedly negotiating a staggering $250 million salary from Meta to join its Superintelligence Lab. On Wednesday, Deitke publicly congratulated his former colleagues on X.
"Congrats to@ehsanik,@LucaWeihs, and@inkynumbers!Happy for you all :) 🚀"
Vercept maintained a relatively high profile within the regional AI startup landscape. In a LinkedIn post confirming the acquisition by Anthropic, Vercept CEO Kiana Ehsani revealed that the startup had successfully raised a total of $50 million. She specifically acknowledged Seth Bannon of A12, a board member, as the lead investor. Vercept had previously disclosed a $16 million seed round in January of the prior year.
The company also attracted an impressive roster of angel investors, including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, Cruise founder Kyle Vogt, and Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, as reported by Geekwire.
Anthropic's acquisition announcement confirmed that co-founders Ehsani, Luca Weihs, and Ross Girshick would be joining the company as part of the deal. However, it was noted that not all of Vercept’s co-founders would transition to the developer of Claude.
Matt Deitke, another Vercept co-founder, had previously made headlines last year as one of the AI researchers who secured a substantial salary during Meta’s recruitment drive for its Superintelligence Lab. Deitke extended his congratulations to his former colleagues via an X post on Wednesday.
Oren Etzioni, widely recognized in Seattle as the founding leader of the Allen Institute for AI and previously identified as a co-founder and investor in Vercept, will not be joining Anthropic. Etzioni expressed his displeasure about the acqui-hire publicly, posting on LinkedIn: “After a little bit more than a year,Verceptis throwing in the towel and giving their customers 30 days to get off the platform. Sad. A fantastic team is joining Anthropic. I wish them the very best!”
Etzioni also holds a professorship at the University of Washington and is known for founding and backing numerous other startups as a venture capitalist. He did not respond to requests for comment regarding the acquisition.
A contentious exchange unfolded on Etzioni’s LinkedIn post, where he accused Seth Bannon, Vercept’s lead investor, of being “partly responsible” for the startup’s alleged failure to hire appropriate business personnel. Bannon swiftly condemned Etzioni’s remarks, replying in the LinkedIn thread: “… you disparaged the heroic work of the founders for achieving an outcome most could only dream of.” The public debate escalated, with both parties reportedly exchanging accusations of dishonesty and even legal threats.
While public disputes among investors can be engaging, and often lack substantive impact, the underlying motivations in this instance are noteworthy. The intense competition to develop the next dominant AI solution means that a promising startup like Vercept, which had secured considerable funding, is now being integrated into Anthropic.
Although the specific terms of the deal remain undisclosed, Etzioni confirmed that he received a positive return on his investment. Anthropic's clear interest in Vercept's research talent was evident, potentially influenced by the high-profile move of another co-founder to Meta.
Despite the financial gain, Etzioni conveyed to GeekWire that he remains disheartened. “I’m pleased to have gotten a positive return but obviously disappointed that after just a little over a year with so much traction, and such a fantastic team, we’re basically throwing in the towel,” he stated.
In contrast, the founders joining Anthropic appear content with the outcome, as indicated by CEO Ehsani’s LinkedIn post. She articulated their decision, stating, “The choices were clear: we could build independently and work toward the same vision as two separate versions of it, or join forces with an incredible team and accelerate that vision into reality. The decision became an easy choice.”
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