Anthropic and OpenAI launch joint ventures for enterprise AI
▼ Summary
– Anthropic announced a joint venture for enterprise AI services, with founding partners Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs, backed by multiple investment firms.
– The venture is valued at $1.5 billion, with $300 million commitments from Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman.
– OpenAI is raising $4 billion for a similar venture called The Development Company, valued at $10 billion, with no overlapping investors.
– Both ventures aim to create enterprise AI sales channels by raising money from alternative asset managers for preferred access to portfolio companies.
– The new funding will allow Anthropic to use a forward-deployed engineer model, embedding teams with clients like clinicians and IT staff.
On Monday, Anthropic unveiled a new joint venture aimed at deploying enterprise AI services, with Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs acting as founding partners. The initiative is backed by a consortium of investors including Apollo Global Management, General Atlantic, GIC, Leonard Green, and Sequoia Capital. According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the partnership, the venture carries a $1.5 billion valuation, with $300 million commitments each from Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman.
The timing is notable, as Anthropic’s chief rival, OpenAI, is preparing a similar move. Just hours before the Anthropic announcement, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI is raising funds for a new venture called The Development Company, following a parallel strategy. OpenAI’s effort is significantly larger, targeting $4 billion from 19 investors at a $10 billion valuation. Its named backers include TPG, Brookfield Asset Management, Advent, and Bain Capital, with no overlap in investment between the two ventures.
Both initiatives share the same underlying logic: raising capital from alternative asset managers to create new channels for enterprise AI deals. The ventures are expected to secure preferred sales access to their investors’ portfolio companies, while the investors capture more value from resulting contracts. The additional capital will also allow for more engineering resources per engagement, embracing the forward-deployed engineer (FDE) model popularized by Palantir.
As Anthropic explained in its announcement, an engagement might begin with engineers sitting down with clinicians and IT staff to build tools that fit into existing workflows. These collaborations will span mid-sized companies across industries, each tailored to the people closest to the work.
The new ventures come as both AI labs raise funds at a blistering pace while circling possible IPOs. OpenAI announced $122 billion in new funding at the end of March, against an $852 billion valuation. TechCrunch reported last week that Anthropic is in the final stages of its own funding round, seeking $50 billion at a $900 billion valuation.
(Source: TechCrunch)
