Both leading AI developers, Anthropic and OpenAI, have unveiled plans for joint ventures aimed at expanding their enterprise services, marking a key step in turning advanced models into practical business tools.
Anthropic made the announcement on Monday, revealing a new partnership focused on delivering AI services to companies. The founding partners are Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs. They are joined by a broader group of supporters that includes Apollo Global Management, General Atlantic, GIC, Leonard Green, and Sequoia Capital.
The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story first, reported the venture’s value at $1.5 billion. This figure accounts for $300 million contributions each from Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman.
OpenAI is pursuing a similar path with even greater ambition. Bloomberg reported only hours earlier that the company is raising funds for an entity called The Development Company. It seeks $4 billion from 19 investors, including TPG, Brookfield Asset Management, Advent, and Bain Capital, at a $10 billion valuation. Notably, there is no investor overlap between the two ventures.
At their heart, both projects seek to leverage financial backers’ networks to reach corporate clients more effectively. This setup promises preferred access to portfolio companies for the AI firms, while investors share in the rewards from successful deals.
The approach also emphasises dedicated engineering support, drawing on the forward-deployed model made famous by Palantir, where specialists work directly with customers to integrate tools into daily operations.
Anthropic highlighted this hands-on method in its statement. “An engagement might begin with the company’s engineering team sitting down with clinicians and IT staff to build tools that fit into the workflows that staff already use. Engagements like this will run across mid-sized companies across industries, each shaped by the people closest to the work.”
The initiatives come amid breakneck fundraising for both organisations, with public listings under consideration. OpenAI secured $122 billion in new capital by late March, reaching an $852 billion valuation. Anthropic, meanwhile, is close to closing a $50 billion round at $900 billion, according to TechCrunch.
These developments signal how AI competition is evolving beyond raw technology to focus on real-world deployment across sectors like healthcare, finance, and manufacturing.