Blackstone and Goldman back Anthropic’s $1.5bn AI joint venture

Financial institutions Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman and Goldman Sachs have backed a joint venture worth more than $1.5bn set up by Anthropic.

The move is aimed at introducing its AI tools across a wide range of portfolio companies.

The advisory business will start with $300m investments from Anthropic, Blackstone and H&F, the Financial Times reported citing sources.

Goldman Sachs and private equity group General Atlantic are each due to provide $150m.

Goldman Sachs asset and wealth management global head Marc Nachmann said: “This is a compelling investment opportunity for our clients and will enable mid-market companies to deploy Anthropic’s AI solutions to drive meaningful impact in their business.

“By democratising access to forward-deployed engineers, the new company can help the expansive network of portfolio companies in our Asset Management business and other companies of similar sizes accelerate AI adoption to grow and scale their operations.”

Additionally, the venture has support from a wider group of alternative asset managers, including General Atlantic, Leonard Green, Apollo Global Management, GIC and Sequoia Capital.

The company has secured roughly $1.5bn in capital commitments, the news publication said. No valuation was disclosed.

Anthropic CFO Krishna Rao said: “This new firm brings additional operating capability to the ecosystem and capital from leading alternative asset managers.” 

The venture plans to place Anthropic engineers inside midsized companies, beginning with businesses owned by its private equity sponsors, to help those companies put AI systems into use while also creating new commercial opportunities for Anthropic.

These tools include Claude Code, which has taken the business world by storm this year and triggered a sell-off in several listed software companies, the report added.

Blackstone, the world’s largest private firm, was central to the early discussions and is regarded as a “founding partner” alongside Goldman and H&F.

Blackstone chief operating officer and president Jon Gray said: “We believe it can help break down one of the most significant bottlenecks to enterprise AI adoption by expanding the number of highly skilled implementation partners.”

One person briefed on the discussions said the JV is expected to keep its partners at the edge of AI technologies while also producing an investment return.

Hellman & Friedman CEO Patrick Healy said: “This is a rare convergence: massive market need, the unmatched AI technical capability of Anthropic, and a consortium of investors with the reach to scale fast.”