OpenAI Reportedly In Talks With Private Equity Giants for Enterprise AI Venture

OpenAI is reportedly in talks with TPG, Advent International, Bain Capital, and Brookfield Asset Management to create a joint venture that would distribute its enterprise AI tools across the firms’ portfolio companies, according to an exclusive report by Reuters.

OpenAI and Anthropic reportedly seeking backing from Private Equity (PE) giants

Per the report, the proposed pre-money valuation of the venture is reportedly around $10 billion. However, the final decision hasn’t been made yet. If accurate, the deal would see the PE investors commit roughly $4 billion, with TPG acting as the anchor investor. Advent, Bain, and Brookfield would join as co-founders and secure board seats. People familiar with the discussions reportedly say that the arrangement would give these firms early access to OpenAI’s enterprise products and influence over their deployment across corporate portfolios.

It’s not just OpenAI; Anthropic is also courting private equity, as these firms control enterprise budgets and can accelerate corporate adoption. The AI company, which has been in the headlines recently due to its conflict with the Pentagon, is reportedly talking with Blackstone, Permira, and Hellman & Friedman for a joint venture focused on its Claude AI, with around $1 billion in potential equity involvement. One source noted Anthropic is offering common equity, while OpenAI’s venture would provide preferred equity, giving investors priority returns and downside protection.

The deals come at a time when the AI business is seeing an upward trend. OpenAI’s enterprise revenue reportedly stands at $10 billion out of $25 billion in total annualized revenue, while Anthropic has seen strong adoption among corporate clients. Although OpenAI hasn’t shared many details about the ongoing talks, Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s Applications CEO, took to X (formerly Twitter) earlier today and sort of confirmed the news. Citing the Reuters report in her X post, Simo noted, “This news came out a little earlier than we planned; we’re excited to be building a deployment arm and will share more details soon.”

OpenAI’s Frontier platform expands enterprise AI push

OpenAI’s recently launched Frontier platform includes engineers with consulting firms like BCG, McKinsey, Accenture, and Capgemini to help companies integrate AI into core processes. Simo, in her statement, says, “We are launching a dedicated deployment arm tasked with embedding Forward Deployed Engineers deeply inside of enterprises. This project has been in the works with our investor and alliance partners since last December, and we are grateful for them and their partnership. We’re still early, but the speed of adoption is a clear signal of where this is headed. We’re excited to not just be building these technologies but also building many ways for companies to deploy them and get impact.”

The potential ventures hint at how AI is reshaping deal-making. Rapid technological shifts have unsettled valuations and made it harder for PE firms to underwrite software deals. That said, these alliances could become a model for blending capital, strategy, and AI adoption across multiple industries. Now that both OpenAI and Anthropic are racing toward public offerings, it will be interesting to see which company will convert these partnerships into lasting enterprise dominance.