Anthropic has launched a small business offering, signalling a new front in the AI platform rivalries.

Anthropic, the AI company best known for its Claude models, has unveiled a dedicated product for small businesses – a move that seems to mark a deliberate pivot beyond the large enterprise customers that have driven its success to date.

Claude for Small Business is a toggle-on feature within Claude Cowork, Anthropic’s task-automation platform. Once activated, it gives paying users access to 15 pre-built agentic workflows across finance, operations, sales, marketing, HR and customer service, and can be connected to software that many small businesses already use. Partner integrations include QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, DocuSign, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365.

It is a strategy that makes sense, particularly in the massive US market. Small businesses account for 44pc of US GDP and employ nearly half the private-sector workforce, according to Anthropic, which added that their AI adoption has lagged behind larger enterprises.

“Small businesses make up nearly half the American economy, but they’ve never had the resources of bigger companies,” said Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic.

“AI is the first technology that can finally close that gap, which is why we’re launching Claude for Small Business, alongside training and partnerships to make sure AI shows up for the entrepreneurs and communities who need it most.”

The launch may signal that the battleground for AI user acquisition is shifting. While Anthropic has had significant success taking on its major rival OpenAI in the enterprise market, the latter is well ahead when it comes to small business, having released an Enterprise ChatGPT tier that included a small-team option back in 2023.

As part of the launch, PayPal and Anthropic have co-created ‘AI Fluency for Small Business’, a free online course teaching owners how to integrate AI into their operations.

“Together, we are equipping business owners and entrepreneurs with the tools, expertise, and trusted infrastructure they need to compete and thrive,” said Amy Bonitatibus, chief corporate affairs officer at PayPal. The course is available on demand; on completion, learners receive a shareable certificate.

In a bid to drive adoption of Claude for Small Business in the huge US market, Anthropic is taking the offering on the road with a 10-city US tour offering free, half-day AI training workshops for small businesses, kicking off in Chicago yesterday (14 May).

The new direction comes at a time when Anthropic is in discussions with investors to raise between $30bn and $50bn in new funding at a valuation of up to $950bn, a deal that would see the Claude maker surpass rival OpenAI as the world’s most valuable artificial intelligence start-up.

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