Anthropic has formalised a third-party partner programme, the Claude Partner Network, to sell its Claude AI products, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Tuesday. It is a move to build an enterprise sales network ahead of an IPO.

The report said Anthropic has received more than 40,000 applications since launching the Claude Partner Network in March and is starting with about 100 companies. They range from large professional services firms such as Accenture and Cognizant to smaller consulting and IT services providers.

Anthropic also created a "services track" that divides partners into tiers. Partners with at least 10 Anthropic-certified staff receive "Select" status, while those with at least 1,000 receive "Global Premier" status. It also launched the Claude Partner Hub portal to support partner management and customer connections.

Karl Cadoren (칼 카돈), head of global partner experience at Anthropic, said, "As a listed company, it is our responsibility to show shareholders and the market an ecosystem they can trust." Steve Coffield (스티브 코필드), head of global business development, said, "The sustainability of customer success leads to the sustainability of revenue," adding, "We plan to grow the partner network to thousands of companies."

Anthropic previously announced in March it would invest $100 million for partner training, technical support and joint marketing. OpenAI is also targeting the enterprise market by signing similar partnerships with consulting and professional services firms.