On Monday, Anthropic revealed its plans for a new joint venture aimed at enhancing enterprise AI services. This initiative will see partnerships with Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and Goldman Sachs, alongside support from a consortium of venture capitalists, hedge funds, and private equity firms such as Apollo Global Management, General Atlantic, GIC, Leonard Green, and Sequoia Capital.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, the venture holds a valuation of approximately $1.5 billion, with contributions of $300 million each from Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman.
Interestingly, this announcement coincided with news that Anthropic's competitor, OpenAI, is also embarking on a similar venture. Just hours before Anthropic's reveal, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI is securing funds for a project named The Development Company, which aims to operate on a larger scale with a funding goal of $4 billion from 19 investors, all while being valued at $10 billion. Notable investors in OpenAI's initiative include TPG, Brookfield Asset Management, Advent, and Bain Capital, with no overlap in investments between the two ventures.
Both companies are seeking to raise capital from alternative asset managers to facilitate new enterprise AI opportunities. These ventures are expected to provide their investors with preferred access to sales opportunities within their portfolio companies, while investors benefit from the value generated through resulting contracts.
The influx of capital will also enable a greater allocation of engineering resources, adopting the forward-deployed engineer (FDE) model popularized by Palantir. As Anthropic articulated, "An engagement might begin with the company's engineering team collaborating with clinicians and IT staff to develop tools that seamlessly integrate into existing workflows." This approach is anticipated to span mid-sized companies across various industries, tailored by the insights of those directly involved in the work.
The emergence of these ventures comes at a time when both AI laboratories are rapidly raising funds and considering potential IPOs. OpenAI recently announced an impressive $122 billion in new funding, reflecting a valuation of $852 billion. Meanwhile, TechCrunch reported that Anthropic is nearing the conclusion of its own funding round, seeking $50 billion against a staggering $900 billion valuation.
