OpenAI is in discussions to invest as much as $1.5bn into a new joint venture backed by private equity firms, in a move aimed at speeding up the deployment of artificial intelligence across portfolio companies owned by buyout groups, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The report cites unnamed people familiar with the plans, as revealing that the initiative, internally referred to as “DeployCo”, is expected to be valued at around $10bn as part of a funding round targeted for completion in early May. OpenAI is set to provide an initial $500m in equity, with an option to increase its commitment by a further $1bn over time.
The venture’s private equity backers – including TPG, Bain Capital, Advent International, Brookfield Asset Management and Goanna Capital – are expected to contribute an additional $4bn collectively, the sources said.
DeployCo is designed as a dedicated enterprise AI deployment platform, focused on embedding OpenAI’s tools directly into operating businesses owned by private equity sponsors. The company has already begun hiring its own workforce alongside personnel seconded from OpenAI, with a commercial model based on charging portfolio companies for implementation and integration services.
The structure reflects a broader push by AI developers to move deeper into enterprise workflows, with OpenAI seeking to strengthen its position in the corporate market as competition intensifies with rivals such as Anthropic, whose enterprise products have seen rapid revenue growth.
As part of the arrangement, the private equity investors are expected to commit capital for a five-year period, with a targeted minimum annual return of around 17.5%, according to people familiar with the terms. While positioned as a floor, the structure is intended to provide long-duration “locked-up” capital to support OpenAI’s expansion into enterprise deployment.
DeployCo will be majority owned by OpenAI and structured as a Delaware LLC, with management oversight led by OpenAI’s Brad Lightcap. The company will also have super-voting share arrangements in place to maintain OpenAI’s control.
The model draws on the “forward deployed engineer” approach, in which technical staff are embedded directly within client organisations to accelerate adoption—an approach popularised in enterprise software by firms such as Palantir Technologies.
