Accenture to acquire Faculty, an Apax Digital Fund I portfolio company, to scale AI capabilities
6th January 2026
Apax Accenture has agreed to acquire Faculty, a leading UK-based AI native services and products business built on highly technical applied AI skills and a unique deAccenture has agreed to acquire Faculty, a leading UK-based AI native services and products business built on highly technical applied AI skills and a unique decision intelligence product that features advanced simulation and optimization capabilities. The acquisition will expand Accenture’s capabilities to help its clients reinvent core and critical business processes with safe and secure AI solutions that result in tangible outcomes.
Founded in 2014, Faculty has a strong track record working with public and private sector clients to deploy AI solutions in the U.K. and other key markets. Its services – which include AI strategy, AI safety and the design, build and implementation of high-performance AI systems - support the scaled and safe adoption of AI by client organizations.
Faculty has built a distinctive market position by pairing deep technical capability with an ability to attract and retain top-tier data science talent in the UK. This is driven by its thought leadership, fellowship programme, and work on high-profile, mission-critical projects, including the NHS Early Warning System. Most recently, Faculty became OpenAI’s first global technical partner, underlining its credentials in advanced and generative AI.
Since 2021, with the support of Apax Digital and LocalGlobe, Faculty has more than quadrupled in size, evolving from an applied AI services provider into a business with a differentiated, scalable software platform at its core. Investment in Frontier, Faculty’s software platform, has also unlocked significant growth opportunities, particularly in life sciences, where Faculty’s decision intelligence capabilities address complex regulatory and operational challenges.
Faculty’s team of more than 400 AI native professionals, including highly qualified data scientists and AI engineers, will integrate with Accenture’s teams to scale world class AI capabilities for clients.
Marc Warner, CEO of Faculty, said, “Our vision has always been a world in which safe AI delivers widespread benefits to humanity. We have spent the last ten years supporting our clients to bring this world about, step by step. As AI advances rapidly, the ambition of our clients is now, rightly, no less than the reinvention of their business. I am delighted that by teaming up with Accenture, we have everything in place to support AI transformation from start to finish.”
Faculty is known for their ability to apply AI in mission-critical settings. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Faculty built the UK National Health Service’s (NHS) Early Warning System. This was used daily by NHS Gold Command to accurately predict patient demand across the country, and to optimally allocate critical care resources to where they were needed most.
Saul Klein, Co-founder and Executive Chairman at Phoenix Court, home of LocalGlobe, said: “We are proud to have invested in Faculty in January 2016, when they were a small team of around 10 people, together with the other early stage investors in the company. We extend our warmest congratulations to Marc, Andy, Angie and the whole Faculty team as they embark on this exciting next stage of their journey, together with Accenture.”
Mark Beith, Partner at Apax Digital, said: “Faculty has built the UK’s standout applied AI business, pairing serious technical depth with the discipline to deploy AI safely in the real world. We met Faculty in 2017 and became a client early on. It has been a privilege to partner with Marc, Angie, Andy, John and their world-class team, as well as LocalGlobe. Quadrupling revenues in four years, launching a successful AI software offering and becoming a unicorn – this is a great outcome for Faculty and showcases the strength of the UK’s AI ecosystem. Accenture now gives Faculty a global platform to industrialise applied AI for the world’s largest organisations.”
Faculty would like to extend our deep gratitude to Apax, LocalGlobe, our seed stage investors – Mercuri, Metaplanet, and RockSpring, and our long list of angel investors, who have all helped us along the way.
Goldman Sachs International served as sole financial advisor and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as legal advisor to Faculty, and Slaughter and May as legal advisor to management.
Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.