In the coming weeks, AI giant Anthropic plans to complete its $6 billion acquisition of Israeli company Decart, which specializes in developing lean language models. "Globes" has learned that the company will also increase its operations in the Israeli market, with an emphasis on tech companies and veteran software companies.
Anthropic is currently rapidly moving toward an IPO - a business move that is expected to eclipse any other IPO in history, including Space X's recently held flotation and will reflect a valuation of $2 trillion for the language model maker Claude. As part of the business move, the company seeks to close the gap created by its major rival, OpenAI, in its global sales and in recent months it has been waging a campaign for accelerated global expansion, including to Israel.
At the start of 2026, Anthropic opened new offices in Paris and Munich, and about four months ago, the company significantly expanded its operations in London by renting offices in preparation for increasing the number of employees from 200 to about 800. In addition, Anthropic already has offices in Dublin, Madrid, Tokyo, Sydney, Bangalore, and Seoul. The vast majority of its development staff are in San Francisco, with three other centers in the US, as well as in London - where Anthropic maintains a team in the field of data security and operational safety.
Early acquaintance with the Israeli market
Anthropic has been providing services to the Israeli market remotely for many months. Eli Hotoveli, an Israeli resident of Dublin, has been managing this activity remotely since February, after 8 years of activity at Google, but now his colleague, Pip White, responsible for the British and Northern European markets, is leading the efforts to expand the company's sales activity in Israel.
According to industry estimates, the bulk of the local activity will focus on promoting sales of Anthropic's "Claude Code" code generator in Israel, as part of the emerging competition with Space X's Cursor, Cognition and OpenAI's Codex.
Vigorous activity in Israel is important to Anthropic. In Europe, where regulation is heavy and suspicion of US companies is high, it is important to have teams that meet face-to-face with clients and are available to meet with regulators quickly. Although Israel does not have heavy regulation and high suspicion of US companies, it is believed that Anthropic wants to strengthen ties with the local tech community, which includes startups, growth companies, and Israeli companies that are dual-traded in the US.
On the way to completing acquisition of Decart
At the same time, in the coming weeks, Anthropic is expected to complete the acquisition of Israeli-US company Decart for $6 billion, mainly in shares. According to the assessment of the main shareholders in Decart, the value of Anthropic's shares will increase significantly after the IPO due to its high sales rate.
In May, Anthropic's annual sales rate was $47 billion, and in July the rate already reached $65 billion, up 38% in two months. In August, the company reached an annual revenue rate of $74 billion.
According to data from investment firm Motley Fool, Anthropic is profitable, or at least was profitable, in the second quarter of the year with an adjusted operating profit of $559 million.
Anthropic's marketing and sales activities will likely be conducted separately from the R&D activities that will be set up by the acquisition of Decart and will be subordinate to the Northern European sales center managed from London.
To grow sales after the IPO, says Ben Pasternak, CEO of software company Aman Group, Anthropic must also take into account the Israeli market, "Which is larger than other markets in terms of its use and spending on cloud and AI products."
He says, "The sales turnover of Amazon's AWS cloud service in Israel and among Israeli companies is estimated at about a billion dollars and even exceeds that of the UK. Israeli development companies, including startups, growth companies and publicly traded companies, are 'devouring' cloud computing and AI at a dizzying pace and Anthropic, among others, looks at the Israeli market very positively."
While competitor OpenAI has already opened several offices around the world - in London, Brussels, Paris or Dublin - those around it have made it clear unequivocally that it has no plans to open offices in Israel or appoint a local team to handle the market uniquely. Its sales activity in Israel is conducted through representatives based in London and Paris who serve all European and Middle Eastern countries.
In addition, Pasternak explains, the manufacturer of ChatGPT "Has so far focused mainly on selling its service to the end consumer and only recently has it stepped up the marketing of its corporate service, Codex, the code generator for the corporate market."
Anthropic's strategy in Israel
According to Value Add VC, the market share of Anthropic's code generator, Claude Code, is 42%, double that of OpenAI's Codex product. It is estimated that Anthropic's sales strategy in Israel will be similar to AWS’s and will focus on training, conferences, and building a developer community and an active side with local distributors.
Despite Anthropic's prominence in the global market share of software companies, in Israel it depends on the cloud and AI platforms of companies such as Google, Microsoft, and especially Amazon, which also charge high prices for services.
"Anthropic previously operated on a business model of partnerships with large cloud platforms such as Amazon's AWS, when it allowed for the sharing of credit points between the various platforms," says a senior executive in the Israel’s AI industry who works with Anthropic. "However, in the last year we have actually seen a rapprochement between OpenAI and Amazon and various partnerships, while Anthropic is seeking more independence to work directly with corporate clients."
Eyes on the local industry
Uri Eliabayev, a consultant to companies in the field of AI, adds that "Anthropic recognizes the increase in the use of Israeli companies in its models and seeks to deepen cooperation with the local tech industry. The company aims to work closely with promising companies and integrate its technology into their software infrastructures. To this end, it may offer them credits, assistance from architects in establishing complex systems, and even dedicated support programs, similar to the veteran players in the industry.
"The Israeli ecosystem is adopting new technologies rapidly compared to the rest of the world, and Anthropic understands that Israel may be a significant growth engine for it - both in terms of the volume of token consumption and the ability to test new technologies under extreme conditions, in a way that will also help it with other clients around the world."
No response has been forthcoming Anthropic.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 2, 2026.
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