Anthropic has acquired Seattle based AI startup Vercept in a move aimed at strengthening Claude’s ability to operate inside real world software applications.
Quick Summary – TLDR:
- Anthropic acquired Vercept, a Seattle AI startup focused on computer use agents.
- Vercept’s product Vy will shut down within 30 days.
- The deal boosts Claude’s ability to complete multi step tasks in live apps.
- Some co founders are joining Anthropic, while others including Oren Etzioni are not.
What Happened?
Anthropic announced Wednesday that it is acquiring Vercept, a Seattle startup founded by alumni of the Allen Institute for AI. As part of the deal, Vercept will shut down its desktop application Vy and transition its team and technology to Anthropic.
Financial terms were not disclosed, though Vercept had raised more than $50 million in funding. The move comes as competition intensifies among AI labs racing to build agents capable of navigating computers and completing tasks for users.
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
A Bigger Push Into Computer Use
Anthropic said the acquisition will accelerate its work on what it calls computer use, a capability that allows its Claude models to operate inside live applications just like a person at a keyboard. That includes navigating spreadsheets, filling out web forms across browser tabs, managing workflows across tools, and handling complex multi step tasks that go beyond simple code execution.
In a statement, Anthropic said Vercept’s team has “spent years thinking carefully about how AI systems can see and act within the same software humans use every day. That expertise maps directly onto some of the hardest problems we’re working on at Anthropic.”
The announcement follows the recent launch of Claude Sonnet 4.6, which Anthropic says shows major progress in computer use skills. On OSWorld, a widely used benchmark for AI computer use, Anthropic said its Sonnet models improved from under 15 percent in late 2024 to 72.5 percent today. The company claims the model is now approaching human level performance on tasks such as navigating complex spreadsheets and completing web forms.
What Vercept Built?
Vercept was part of Seattle’s AI focused A12 incubator, which emerged from the Allen Institute for AI. The company developed Vy, a cloud based computer use agent that could operate a remote Apple MacBook and complete tasks inside real applications.
The startup closed a $16 million seed round in January 2025 at a reported $67 million post money valuation. The round was led by Fifty Years, with participation from Point Nine Capital and the AI2 Incubator. Its angel investors included former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean, Cruise founder Kyle Vogt, and Dropbox co founder Arash Ferdowsi.
According to CEO Kiana Ehsani, Vercept had raised more than $50 million in total and had a comfortable runway when the opportunity to join Anthropic surfaced. In a LinkedIn post, she described the decision as mission driven. She wrote:
The Bigger AI Talent Battle
The acquisition also comes amid fierce competition for top AI researchers. One of Vercept’s co founders, Matt Deitke, previously joined Meta after reportedly negotiating a $250 million compensation package to work on its Superintelligence Lab. He is not joining Anthropic.
Anthropic has been actively acquiring specialized teams, including its earlier purchase of coding agent engine Bun, as it builds out Claude’s capabilities.
SQ Magazine Takeaway
From my perspective, this deal shows just how serious the race for AI agents has become. It is no longer just about building smarter chatbots. It is about creating systems that can actually use software the way humans do. That is a massive shift.
Anthropic is clearly betting that the future of AI lies in agents that can work across apps, tools, and workflows without constant human supervision. Bringing in Vercept’s team gives them deep technical expertise at exactly the right moment. If Claude truly reaches human level computer use, that changes everything from office productivity to enterprise automation.
