OpenAI, Anthropic tie up with private equity to drive enterprise AI adoption

In an overnight development, Anthropic and OpenAI signed deals which point towards the same goal—rather than only selling access to models, both companies are now working with private equity (PE) firms to directly embed AI into enterprise operations.

Investor-led push to deploy Anthropic’s AI

Anthropic’s move comes through a joint announcement led by investors, including Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs. The group said it is forming a new “AI-native enterprise services firm” that will help companies integrate Anthropic’s Claude models into core business functions. The new company, worth $1.5 billion, is backed by a consortium including General Atlantic, Leonard Green, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital.

According to the official release, the entity will focus on bringing AI into “core business operations,” with Anthropic contributing technical expertise and engineering support.

Anthropic’s chief financial officer, Krishna Rao, acknowledged the gap the venture is trying to address. “Enterprise demand for Claude is significantly outpacing any single delivery model,” he said, adding that the new structure brings “additional operating capability… and capital” to scale adoption.

OpenAI builds its own deployment vehicle

OpenAI is pursuing a similar objective, but through a more internally controlled structure. According to Bloomberg, the company has set up a new entity called “The Deployment Company”, which is valued at about $10 billion to help businesses integrate its AI tools.

The venture has raised more than $4 billion from investors including TPG, Brookfield, and Bain Capital. OpenAI itself has put $500 million into this arm. Bloomberg reported that the venture is designed to accelerate adoption of OpenAI’s software, particularly across companies owned by private equity firms.

Ulike Anthropic’s investor-led structure, OpenAI is expected to retain control of this entity, positioning it as a dedicated arm to drive enterprise deployment. 

Why private equity is central

 Both approaches rely on the same logic. Private equity firms own large numbers of companies and are under pressure to improve performance. AI offers a way to cut costs, automate workflows, and improve productivity.

For AI providers, this creates a distribution channel instead of selling their models to each and every enterprise, which makes adoption to be pushed across entire portfolios.

What has been the reaction

When Anthropic released Claude Cowork along with plugins earlier this year, it shook the IT sector globally—leading to what was called “SaaSpocalypse” as it wiped out nearly $1 trillion in market capitalisation around the world.

With this, people are fearing that a similar reaction could happen again, and could send tremors in the Indian IT sector, especially for companies like Infosys and TCS, where revenue is generated through billable hours.

“The Indian IT SaaSpocalypse just got a $1.5B booster shot. When Anthropic and Goldman Sachs team up to automate middle-market companies, the traditional billable hours model of TCS/Infosys starts to look like a relic of the past. Adapt or disappear,” a user named @Indianinfolead said in an X (formerly Twitter) said.

Another user on X noted that Indian IT companies should be up to date with AI. “This could be a real wake up call for Indian IT giants like Infosys and TCS. If big clients start getting AI first services from firms like this, traditional outsourcing and large manpower deals may come under pressure fast,” the post read.

Some are still having a positive outlook, saying that one should wait and see the scale of adoption to fructify. A user by the name @PalwinderCFA, said, “In 2000, during the dot-com boom, Goldman Sachs and other major banks launched similar incubators and service firms to force digital transformation upon their traditional portfolio companies, most of which dissolved when the realization hit that legacy businesses cannot be disrupted from the outside by high-priced consultants with proprietary tools. Let’s see how this unfolds.”