Anthropic will set up a joint venture dedicated to selling enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) tools in partnership with private equity firms, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing multiple sources. It is seen as part of a strategy to expand corporate customers.
According to the WSJ, Anthropic plans to establish the joint venture by raising about $1 billion (about 1.5 trillion won) from private equity firms including Blackstone, General Atlantic, and Hellman & Friedman. Of that, Anthropic will invest $200 million, and private equity firms are expected to contribute the remaining $800 million.
The new entity will sell AI tools to portfolio corporations invested in by private equity firms and serve as a consulting company to guide how to use those tools in corporate operations and work.
Private equity firms aim to introduce AI to portfolio corporations to help cut expense, and Anthropic can expand its corporate customers, aligning the interests of both sides.
Anthropic is accelerating revenue growth ahead of an initial public offering (IPO) in the fourth quarter this year. The company says about 80% of its revenue comes from corporate customers, and it has targeted the enterprise AI market with its AI coding tool Claude Code, based on its AI model Claude.
In the consumer AI market, OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, is the overwhelming No. 1, while in the enterprise AI and coding markets, Anthropic ranked first with market shares of 40% and 54%, respectively, as of the end of last year.
On the back of a stable revenue base of corporate customers, Anthropic's sales are growing rapidly. Bloomberg News reported the same day that Anthropic's annualized revenue surpassed $30 billion (about 45 trillion won) this month, up from $9 billion at the end of last year.
OpenAI, which is competing with Anthropic for an IPO, is also making an all-out push to secure a base of corporate customers. OpenAI is also said to be promoting the establishment of a joint venture, "DeployCo" (working title), with private equity firms.