KPMG’s U.S. executives regularly visit Silicon Valley, looking for AI startups to work with before they grow into serious competitors.
Tim Walsh, CEO of KPMG in the US, said: financial times The company could form partnerships with such companies or take minority stakes to ensure access to their technology.
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The initiative is part of Mr. Walsh’s efforts to put senior executives in more direct contact with companies that have the potential to disrupt KPMG’s markets.
He said the Silicon Valley meeting was designed to make both he and his executive committee “uncomfortable” by bringing them face-to-face with new challengers.
The goal, Walsh said, is to accelerate technology adoption across the company.
He made it a top priority when he became chief executive last July after more than 30 years at KPMG.
“You might not understand the pace of change until you see it,” Walsh says.
“I’m convinced that no matter how fast we’re going, it’s not fast enough.”
He said KPMG had previously relied on its Silicon Valley business development team and client relationships to convey “signals” about technology transitions to senior management.
That has changed now. Walsh said the trustees now travel to Silicon Valley every five to six weeks. You will also spend at least one day at the venture capital firm’s office meeting with portfolio companies.
Venture companies he has been involved with include Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer, Emergence Capital and JC2 Ventures, run by former Cisco CEO John Chambers.
Walsh said most of the startup conferences were “educational” in nature. They helped KPMG decide where to focus its internal development work, he said.
However, it is expected that some of the talks may lead to a partnership or minority investment.
“We might want to get on the cap table. [shareholder register] “This is to show our commitment to our founders,” he said.
Walsh said it’s difficult for emerging growth companies to reach KPMG’s scale.
In that context, partnering with or receiving investment from the company could work well for startups, KPMG and venture investors, he said.
The initiative is expected to lead to more deals like those announced after Mr. Walsh took office.
These include a partnership with Uniphore, a JC2 portfolio company, to jointly develop an AI agent.
It also includes a minority stake in Fieldguide, a Bessemer portfolio company that sells AI auditing tools.
KPMG also works with larger AI groups.
Last week, the company announced an expanded partnership with Anthropic to develop new products for tax and legal clients.
Mr. Walsh dismissed suggestions that big AI companies could eventually replace consulting firms such as KPMG by working directly with corporate clients.
“We sold and built a consulting business. It’s not easy,” he said.
He was referring to the spin-off of KPMG’s first consulting division 25 years ago and the decision to re-enter the market in 2006.
Walsh said the Big Four and other consulting firms remain important routes to market for companies like Anthropic.
“I’d like to think we’ll remain friends forever. They’re developing capabilities to help spread technology into businesses, and we’re best aligned with that in that we can help with that.”
