On Monday, Anthropic announced a new joint venture focused on deploying enterprise AI services. Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs are founding partners, alongside a broader group of venture capital, hedge fund, and private equity firms including Apollo Global Management, General Atlantic, GIC, Leonard Green, and Sequoia Capital.

 

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the partnership, said the venture is valued at $1.5 billion, including $300 million commitments from each of Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman.

 

The announcement comes as Anthropic’s main rival prepares a similar move. Just hours earlier, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was raising funds for a new venture called The Development Company. OpenAI’s effort is expected to be larger, targeting $4 billion from 19 investors at a $10 billion valuation. Reported investors include TPG, Brookfield Asset Management, Advent, and Bain Capital, with no apparent overlap between the backers of the two ventures.

 

The strategy behind both initiatives is similar: raise capital from alternative asset managers to open new channels for enterprise AI deals. In return, the ventures are likely to gain preferred access to their investors’ portfolio companies, while investors stand to capture more value from resulting contracts.

 

The additional capital will also support a more hands-on deployment model, allowing engineering teams to work closely with individual clients. This reflects the forward-deployed engineer approach popularized by Palantir.

 

Anthropic described the model by noting that engagements could begin with engineers working directly with clinicians and IT teams to build tools that fit into existing workflows. Similar collaborations are expected across mid-sized companies in multiple industries, shaped by the people closest to day-to-day operations.

 

These new ventures come as both AI labs continue raising capital at a rapid pace while also drawing closer to potential IPOs. OpenAI announced $122 billion in new funding at the end of March, at an $852 billion valuation. Anthropic is also reportedly in the final stages of its own fundraising round, seeking $50 billion at a $900 billion valuation.