OpenAI is engaged in advanced discussions with a group of private equity investors to create a joint venture aimed at deploying its enterprise AI offerings across the firms' portfolio companies and into the wider market, according to people familiar with the matter. The private equity names said to be involved include TPG, Advent International, Bain Capital and Brookfield Asset Management.
Those individuals say the proposed transaction carries a pre-money valuation near $10 billion and envisions the PE investors committing about $4 billion in aggregate in exchange for equity in the new business and influence over how OpenAI's technology is integrated across their holdings. TPG is reported to be the anchor investor, expected to commit the largest share of capital, while Advent, Bain and Brookfield would participate as co-founding partners. All four firms would receive board seats in the joint venture, the sources said, while cautioning that no final agreement is in place and plans could change.
The arrangement is intended to accelerate OpenAI's route into enterprise adoption by leveraging the distribution and purchasing influence that private equity firms exert over their portfolio companies. For the PE firms, participants said, the deal offers a potential strategic asset to support companies exposed to rapid AI-driven disruption and the possibility of upside should adoption extend beyond their portfolios.
Those familiar with the talks requested anonymity because the negotiations remain private. OpenAI has declined to comment on the joint venture plans. Advent, TPG and Brookfield likewise declined to comment, and Bain did not respond to requests for comment.
In related activity, Anthropic is pursuing its own private equity partnerships. People familiar with those discussions said Anthropic has held talks with firms including Blackstone, Permira and Hellman & Friedman about forming a joint venture to sell its Claude AI technology to companies backed by those investors. Under the Anthropic discussions, the PE firms would take an equity stake valued at roughly $1 billion, one person said, while noting figures and plans are subject to change and that no final agreement has been reached.
Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Permira declined to comment, and Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment, according to the people briefed on the conversations.
Details of the economics and security of the proposed OpenAI venture include an offer of preferred equity to the private equity backers, according to sources. Preferred equity is described by those people as a senior ownership class that provides investors with priority returns over common shareholders and limits downside risk. By comparison, Anthropic's talks reportedly involve offering common equity, which lacks the same preferential protections.
Industry participants and the people familiar with the negotiations said both OpenAI and Anthropic are actively courting private equity firms because buyout firms control a large swath of enterprise companies and play a central role in shaping how businesses budget for software and AI investments. The outreach to PE has become more urgent as both AI-focused companies pursue paths to public markets, with timing and competitive positioning influencing the race for enterprise customers.
Those dynamics are unfolding against a backdrop in which AI is already reshaping private equity's investment calculus. Rapid developments in AI have contributed to valuation volatility across the software sector, made it more difficult for buyout firms to underwrite deals confidently, and prompted questions about the durability of business models that could be disrupted by automation.
The sources noted differing adoption footprints in the enterprise AI market. Anthropic is widely viewed by some market participants as having stronger traction among corporate clients, while OpenAI's enterprise business generated approximately $10 billion as part of a total annualized revenue figure of $25 billion, according to one person familiar with the company’s financials as of the end of last month.
For OpenAI, the deal could support distribution of its recently launched enterprise offering, Frontier. Launched last month, Frontier underpins a program called Frontier Alliances, which pairs OpenAI's forward-deployed engineers with consulting firms BCG, McKinsey, Accenture and Capgemini to help companies incorporate AI agents into core business processes, according to the people familiar with the program.
Commenting on deployment efforts in an emailed statement, Fidji Simo, CEO of Applications at OpenAI, said: "As demand for AI continues to skyrocket, we want to help our customers deploy these technologies in all the ways that help them create impact. That's why we recently announced Frontier Alliances to leverage our ecosystem of partners, and that's why we're also building a deployment arm that works directly with enterprises and partners to deeply embed AI throughout their organizations. We'll have more to share when details are finalized."
The potential transactions highlight how private equity firms are seeking tools to protect and enhance the value of their investments amid accelerating technological change, while AI developers are looking for faster routes into large-scale enterprise adoption. But participants emphasize that the discussions are ongoing and could evolve materially before any firm commitments are made.
Summary of current status
OpenAI and a group of major PE firms are negotiating a joint venture intended to distribute OpenAI's enterprise products through PE portfolios, with a reported pre-money valuation near $10 billion and an expected $4 billion in commitments from the investors. Anthropic is separately in talks with other PE firms on a similar model tied to its Claude AI technology, with those investors reportedly taking about $1 billion in equity stakes. Key elements - governance, equity class, and final financial terms - remain subject to change and no definitive deals have been announced.