Accenture buys British AI start-up in $1bn deal
The acquisition of Faculty will boost the tech credentials of the international consultancy firm at a time of disruption in the industry
Modupe Omitola
Tuesday January 06 2026, 7.20pm GMT, The Times
Accenture has agreed to acquire Faculty, the artificial intelligence company, in a deal valuing the UK start-up at more than $1 billion, as the international consultancy firm seeks to establish itself as a leader in the technology.
The New York-listed consultancy firm said the acquisition would help expand its AI offering during a time of disruption to the consulting industry, with Marc Warner, chief executive of Faculty, taking on the role of chief technology officer for Accenture.
Faculty was founded in 2014 by Warner, Angie Ma and Andrew Brookes and is known for its work with political adviser Dominic Cummings on his Vote Leave campaign to leave the European Union. Its product, Faculty Frontier, was used to build the early warning system used by the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic and will be offered to Accenture clients for help in decision-making.
The takeover is the largest-ever acquisition of a privately held UK AI start-up, according to Dealroom, the data provider.
Warner, who has previously been an adviser on the UK government’s AI council, 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.”
Alan Hudson, partner at the venture capital fund Mercuri, which co-led the seed funding round in 2019, called Faculty “the first UK tech unicorn of 2026”, adding that the attraction was “its ability to tailor AI to complex enterprise and public-sector needs”.
Mark Beith, partner at Apax Digital, the growth equity and buyout firm, described it as a “huge outcome for Faculty and the UK’s AI ecosystem”. He added that the company had “quadrupled revenues in four years, launched a successful AI software offering and became a unicorn”.
Marc Warner, chief executive of Faculty, will take on the role of chief technology officer for Accenture
SAM FROST/FACULTY AI
Faculty has worked with private and public clients, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Mistral AI.
The 400-strong tech company, which mostly includes data scientists, AI engineers and those with science PhDs, will be integrated into teams at Accenture after the transaction is completed.
The two companies have worked together since the end of 2023 and Julie Sweet, chief executive of Accenture, said the acquisition will “further accelerate our strategy to bring trusted, advanced AI to the heart of our clients’ businesses”.
Accenture cut more than 11,000 jobs in the three months to August last year.
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