OpenAI has raised more than $4 billion for a new joint venture that will focus on helping businesses adopt its artificial intelligence software, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The new venture, called The Deployment Company, drew backing from 19 investors, including TPG Inc., Brookfield Asset Management, Advent and Bain Capital, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the information is not public.
The deal values the company at $10 billion, not including the money, the person said. The venture will be majority-owned and controlled by OpenAI, the person said.
Other partners include Dragoneer Investment Group and SoftBank Group Corp., among others, the person said, as well as a mix of consulting firms. Bloomberg News previously reported OpenAI was in discussions for the joint venture.
Spokespeople for OpenAI and TPG declined to comment. Representatives for the other partner companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
OpenAI and rival Anthropic PBC have been racing to convince more businesses to pay for their AI software as both move closer to initial public offerings, expected as soon as this year.
On Monday, Anthropic announced it is partnering with Blackstone Inc., Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to form a new company that will bring artificial intelligence to a broad group of midsize companies.
The enterprise services firm will deploy Claude into companies’ core business operations, according to a statement.
Apollo Global Management Inc. is also backing the new firm along with fellow alternative asset managers General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, GIC and Sequoia Capital.
The new firm will deploy AI across companies owned by the asset managers backing it, as well as firms not owned by those asset managers.
“Enterprise demand for Claude is significantly outpacing any single delivery model,” Krishna Rao, chief financial officer of Anthropic, said in the statement. “This new firm brings additional operating capability to the ecosystem and capital from leading alternative asset managers.”
The two AI startups have had significant momentum in selling AI tools to software developers who can use these services to speed up the process of coding. OpenAI and Anthropic have also focused on sectors such as financial services and healthcare to bolster sales.
The partners for OpenAI’s new joint venture have access to more than 2,000 portfolio companies and clients, according to the person familiar with the matter. The aim is to use those relationships to enable more businesses to adopt AI.
Last month, OpenAI said Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap would shift into a new role leading special projects, including overseeing the company’s push to sell software to businesses through the joint venture.
