Tiers A and B of the market map are the firms that put engineers inside a client's operations to build custom AI. The industry now calls this forward-deployed engineering (FDE), a term taken from Palantir. This page covers who the funded players are, what the model costs, and where it stops.
Tier A and B: the funded implementers
| Company | Scale | Model |
|---|---|---|
| Turing (San Francisco, 2018) | About $225M raised; $2.2B valuation at its March 2025 Series E; about $300M annual recurring revenue (TechCrunch) | Data and coding work for AI labs, plus custom AI systems for Fortune 500 clients |
| Distyl AI (San Francisco, 2022) | $175M Series B at $1.8B, Sept 2025; the company says revenue grew 5x in 2024 | Embedded engineers plus its own agent platform, with results aimed within about a quarter |
| OpenAI Deployment Company (2026) | More than $4B of initial investment, TPG leading; about 150 engineers and specialists through the Tomoro acquisition | Embedded engineers at large enterprises; an earlier report said OpenAI consulting charged at least $10M per client |
| Invisible Technologies (New York) | A round of about $100M at a valuation above $2B, reported by Bloomberg in Sept/Oct 2025; revenue figures come from aggregators only | Services plus a platform for enterprises and AI labs |
| Tribe AI (2019) | $3.25M seed (July 2024); an eight-figure revenue run rate claimed by its CEO; a network of 500+ contractors | Embedded experts in three phases: Map, Build, Activate |
| Fractional AI (San Francisco, 2024) | About 44 people and about $4.8M revenue (LinkedIn and Latka estimates, Nov 2025); about 88 people at acquisition per Plank | Custom generative-AI builds; acquired in May 2026 by Anthropic's enterprise-services venture, terms undisclosed |
| Cassidy (New York) | $10M Series A, Sept 2025 | No-code agent platform plus hands-on implementation; names insurance and professional services among its segments |
Three patterns:
- Revenue at the top is often data work. Turing's scale comes mainly from supplying expert human time to AI labs, with custom implementation as a second line.
- A services business can grow on little venture money. Tribe AI claims an eight-figure run rate on a $3.25M seed.
- Prices are rarely public. Among these firms only product-led ones publish a pricing model, and none of the services firms publish project prices.
Tribe AI's homepage reads "We embed. We build. We don't stop until it's in production." Anthropic's venture, which now includes Fractional AI, says "We don't hand off a repo and disappear."
The wave
Palantir built its business on FDEs. In Q2 2026 its US commercial revenue rose 149% year on year to $764M, it reported a record 220 deals of $1M or more in the quarter, and it had 653 US commercial customers (Palantir results via BusinessWire and the earnings call transcript). Its sales motion is a bootcamp in which the customer brings its own data.
Hiring. Forward-deployed engineer job postings rose 729% in the year to April 2026 (Indeed index, via Business Insider and Plank). Other windows give other figures: more than 800% over January to September 2025 (Indeed and the Financial Times, via Pepper Eyes) and 1,165% year on year in Revealera data from November 2025 (Bloomberry, via Plank). On 18 October 2026 Plank counted 1,262 live roles at 555 companies, with a posted median pay band of $160K to $230K.
The labs and platforms are moving in.
- OpenAI launched its Deployment Company in May 2026.
- Anthropic announced Ode on 4 May 2026, a services venture of about $1.5B aimed at mid-sized companies such as community banks, mid-sized manufacturers and regional health systems. Plank estimates its clients at $50M to $2B in revenue.
- Microsoft and AWS announced forward-deployed programmes of $2.5B and $1B respectively (2026, via Plank).
- Sierra (customer-service agents) and Decagon bill per resolved conversation, with engineers bundled in.
The economics
Two published analyses put the break-even for lab-style FDE work in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per client per year:
- Pepper Eyes (May 2026, author calculations) finds that long-tail engagements under about $500K a year lose roughly $500K to $700K each, and that work at $0.5M to $3M is marginal.
- N47 (Sept 2025) says the model fits enterprises paying $1M or more a year and is a poor fit for small business and self-service buyers.
ICONIQ's operator survey reports how software firms package it: 30% bundle FDE support into the subscription, 29% charge a separate services fee and 25% do a hybrid. Examples include $40K to $45K annual contract value with a week of FDE support, and a $500K six-month pilot.
Neither analysis addresses a small studio whose costs are not those of a lab engineer (a fully loaded lab FDE is estimated at $845K a year).
How far down-market it reaches
Labs: self-serve rather than embedded. Anthropic launched Claude for Small Business on 13 May 2026 with 15 workflows; by 15 September it had 43 workflows and 27 more integrations. It has started recruiting small-business-focused consultancies into its Claude Partner Network. OpenAI has announced a ChatGPT small-business programme with webinars and guides. Neither lists embedded engineers for small firms.
Small providers using FDE language. One directory lists 34 providers, 9 of which publish prices; one entry, Brilliantech, lists embedded engineers at $15,000 to $40,000 a month.
| Provider | Offer | Published price | Client size |
|---|---|---|---|
| forwarddeploy.co | AI for CPA firms | none listed | CPA firms of 15 to 80 people |
| Law Tech AI | Coaching and implementation for law firms | none stated | 1 to 75 attorneys |
| aideployed.dev | Free audit, setup, retainer | setup "under $5k", retainer "under $1,000/mo" (ceilings) | small and medium businesses |
| Eupraxic | One workflow in 10 business days | $5,000, refund guarantee | founder-led B2B software firms |
| Utsubo | Pod of two to four for three to six months | fixed monthly fee, unpublished | 11 to 500 employees |
| Phos AI Labs | Audit plus embedded engineer | audit from $10,000; embedded from $15,000 a month | US mid-market, $5M+ revenue |
| Brilliantech | Proof of concept, embedded, pods | proof of concept from $8,000; $15K to $40K a month | not stated |
| A.Team | Vetted engineers under the client's brand | about $25,000 a month per senior builder | software companies |
Few of these publish proof. The only small-firm results found with figures are self-reported by forwarddeploy.co (for example a workpaper review cut from 12 hours to 3 in an 80-person firm).
Companies mentioned
- OpenAI Deployment Company
- Turing
- Distyl AI
- Invisible Technologies
- Tribe AI
- Fractional AI (now Ode with Anthropic)
- Cassidy
- Palantir
- Anthropic
- Ode
- Sierra
- Decagon
- forwarddeploy.co
- Law Tech AI (Jennifer Case)
- aideployed.dev (Annie)
- Eupraxic
- Utsubo
- Phos AI Labs
- Brilliantech
- A.Team
Sources
- https://news.crunchbase.com/ai/distyl-raises-valuation-175m-seriesb/ — Distyl round and valuation
- https://pulse2.com/turing-111-million-series-e-raised-at-2-2-billion-valuation-for-agi-infrastructure — Turing round
- https://techcrunch.com/?p=2976468 — Turing annual recurring revenue
- https://openai.com/index/openai-launches-the-deployment-company/ — OpenAI Deployment Company
- https://decrypt.co/367403/openai-launched-consulting-arm-help-companies-deploy-ai — headcount, investors
- https://the-decoder.com/openai-is-charging-at-least-10-million-per-client-for-its-enterprise-ai-consulting-services/ — earlier per-client pricing report
- https://techcrunch.com/2024/07/17/tribe-ai-raised-venture-capital-to-keep-up-with-demand-after-six-years-of-bootstrapping — Tribe AI seed and run rate
- https://www.tribe.ai — Tribe AI homepage
- https://getlatka.com/companies/fractional.ai — Fractional AI estimates
- https://www.implicator.ai/anthropics-wall-street-venture-buys-the-firm-openai-had-been-using/ — Fractional AI acquisition
- https://ode.com — Ode statement
- https://www.builtinnyc.com/articles/cassidy-raises-10m-series-a-20250909 — Cassidy round
- https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2026/08/10/palantir-pltr-q2-2026-earnings-call-transcript/ — Palantir Q2 2026
- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260802523449/en/ — Palantir results release
- https://joinplank.com/state-of-fde — job postings, pay, Microsoft and AWS programmes
- https://joinplank.com/research/anthropic-ode — Ode and Fractional AI
- https://www.anthropic.com/news/enterprise-ai-services-company — Anthropic services venture
- https://www.peppereyes.com/legal-operations/forward-deployed-engineer-economics-2-0-the-unit-economics-math-six-months-later/ — FDE economics
- https://www.n47.com/insights/the-forward-deployed-engineer-dilemma — FDE fit
- https://www.iconiq.com/growth/reports/the-fde-advantage-turning-deployment-into-compounding-value — packaging survey
- https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-for-small-business — Claude for Small Business
- https://www.unite.ai/anthropic-adds-43-workflows-27-integrations-to-claude-for-small-business/ — expansion
- https://joinplank.com/state-of-fde — Bloomberry/Revealera 1,165% figure
- https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-10-10/invisible-technologies-raises-100m-in-growth-funding-video — Invisible: $100M at over $2B
- https://openai.com/index/introducing-chatgpt-small-business-program/ — ChatGPT small-business programme
- https://ghanemzadeh.com/fde-as-a-service/ — directory of 34 providers
- https://forwarddeploy.co/case-studies — CPA firm cases
- https://law-tech.ai/blog/forward-deployed-engineer-ai-law-firm — Law Tech AI
- https://aideployed.dev — aideployed.dev
- https://eupraxic.com/fde-sprint/ — Eupraxic
- https://www.utsubo.com/blog/forward-deployed-engineer-studio — Utsubo
- https://a.team/hire-forward-deployed-engineers — A.Team