Anthropic is on the verge of sealing a $1.5 billion joint venture alongside Blackstone, Goldman Sachs, and Hellman and Friedman, aiming to provide artificial intelligence tools to companies owned by private equity firms. Blackstone and Hellman and Friedman are anticipated to invest roughly $300 million each, while Goldman Sachs is committing about $150 million. This platform will supply AI capabilities across finance, operations, customer service, analytics, and enterprise software to businesses within the investment firms’ portfolio networks.
Interestingly, this development coincides with a competing move from OpenAI, which unveiled its own $10 billion enterprise AI joint venture on the same day. This dual announcement underscores that both major AI players see private equity as an efficient route for broad enterprise AI adoption.
Anthropic’s revenue has been growing rapidly, hitting a $30 billion run rate in April 2026—tripling from $9 billion at the end of 2025—with over 1,000 business clients each spending more than $1 million annually. CEO Dario Amodei has emphasized the need to build infrastructure to match surging demand, which explains both the revenue acceleration and this new distribution strategy. The venture also comes amid legal challenges: Anthropic is suing the U.S. government over a directive barring federal agencies from using its technology after the company refused to allow Claude for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance. This dispute has complicated government contracts, making private equity an essential alternative channel.
Both Anthropic and OpenAI are pushing into enterprise markets ahead of potential public listings. Anthropic is exploring valuations above $300 billion, so this $1.5 billion joint venture serves as both a commercial signal and a revenue driver.