April 22 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence firm OpenAI is set to commit up to $1.5 billion to a new joint venture with private equity firms, Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The ChatGPT maker will initially invest $500 million of equity into the joint venture, known internally as DeployCo, which is expected to be valued at $10 billion in a funding round set to close in early May, the report said.
DeployCo, a Delaware-listed LLC, is reportedly designed to speed up the adoption of OpenAI's workplace tools and is a central part of the company’s push into the enterprise market, according to FT.
OpenAI will have super-voting shares in DeployCo, FT added.
DeployCo's private equity backers will invest for five years, with OpenAI guaranteeing them an annual return of 17.5%, the report said.
OpenAI also has the option to add a further $1 billion at a later date, FT said, with investors including TPG, Bain Capital, Advent International, Brookfield and Goanna Capital investing another $4 billion.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. OpenAI, TPG, Bain, Advent, Brookfield and Goanna did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Reuters reported in March that both OpenAI and rival Anthropic have been aggressively courting PE firms, which control many enterprise companies and sway 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.
(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
