OpenAI is set to commit up to $1.5 billion to a new joint venture with private equity firms designed to accelerate the adoption of its workplace and business-focused AI tools, according to a Reuters report. The venture, known internally as DeployCo and structured as a Delaware-based limited liability company, is expected to be valued at $10 billion in a funding round anticipated to close in early May.
OpenAI will initially invest $500 million in equity, with the option to contribute an additional $1 billion at a later date. Private equity investors, including TPG, Bain Capital, Advent International, Brookfield, and Goanna Capital, are expected to contribute a combined $4 billion to the project. Private equity backers will invest over a five-year period, with OpenAI guaranteeing them an annual return of 17.5%.
OpenAI is expected to retain significant control over the venture through super-voting shares, ensuring it maintains strategic direction despite the involvement of multiple financial backers. DeployCo is structured to help scale OpenAI’s enterprise offerings by working closely with large corporations and institutional clients, embedding AI tools across productivity software and advanced automation systems. Rather than negotiating adoption agreements with individual companies separately, the joint venture is designed to give OpenAI a direct and systematic channel into corporate networks at scale.
The move comes as both OpenAI and rival Anthropic have been aggressively courting private equity firms, which control many enterprise companies and hold significant sway over corporate spending on software and AI. OpenAI has recently doubled down on enterprise AI, a market where Anthropic is widely seen as having stronger traction with broader adoption among corporate clients.
The planned investment reflects a broader shift in the AI industry, as leading companies move beyond consumer-facing applications and focus on enterprise integration as a primary growth engine. The success of DeployCo will depend in large part on OpenAI’s ability to manage integration challenges, employee resistance, and privacy and security concerns that often accompany large-scale AI deployments.
