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In an effort to accelerate technological adoption, US chief executive Tim Walsh and his management committee now meet in California every few weeks to interface with portfolio companies backed by prominent venture capital funds, including Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer, Financial Times reports.

The initiative highlights the shift AI is causing across the professional services sector, where automation threatens traditional business models heavily reliant on hourly billing by junior staff. To adapt, KPMG is training its workforce, developing proprietary AI agents, and advising clients on digital transformation.

While many of these Silicon Valley engagements serve educational purposes to guide internal research and development priorities, Mr Walsh indicated that meetings could lead to formal commercial alliances or strategic minority equity investments to secure long-term access to proprietary technology. KPMG has already established similar arrangements, including a partnership with Uniphore to co-develop AI agents and an investment in AI-driven audit tool provider Fieldguide.

Concurrently, the firm is strengthening ties with major industry players, recently expanding its collaboration with Anthropic to design specialised products for legal and tax clients.

Mr Walsh dismissed assertions that large AI developers could bypass consultancies to serve corporate customers directly, emphasising that major tech firms require the market reach, specialised implementation expertise, and established client networks that traditional professional services firms provide.

He said: “They’re spinning up capabilities to be able to help diffuse the technology into businesses, and we are optimally aligned with that, in terms of being able to help them do that.”