In AI push, OpenAI acquires stake in Thrive Holdings

In AI push, OpenAI acquires stake in Thrive Holdings

The non-monetary deal will allow it to provide a dedicated research team and resources in return for an ownership interest

As part of a partnership to embed artificial intelligence (AI) into traditional industries, including accounting and IT services, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has acquired a stake in Thrive Holdings.

OpenAI will work with Thrive's industry specialists to integrate its technology into business processes that are largely manual and fragmented.

The non-monetary deal will allow OpenAI to provide a dedicated research team and resources in return for an ownership interest in Thrive Holdings, one of its largest financial backers.

The move deepens the interweaving financial and business ties between OpenAI and Thrive Capital, which has invested several billion dollars into the AI lab.

Meanwhile, OpenAI has been trying to build on the success of ChatGPT to access more enterprises amid recent concerns about overpromising AI adoptions.

Thrive Holdings was created by Thrive Capital, led by Josh Kushner, to focus on acquiring traditional businesses in an AI roll-up play. Founded in 2025, the firm has raised over $1 billion to acquire service providers nationwide, including accounting and IT firms, to overhaul their operations using AI and boost efficiency.

Anuj Mehndiratta, partner at Thrive Capital, who oversees Thrive Holdings, said the deal was necessary after it faced ‘research problems’ while deploying AI models. The firm found that ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions were insufficient for complex, domain-specific tasks in its portfolio companies.

Thus, the collaboration will focus on AI applications in professional services, particularly through reinforcement learning. The research technique uses feedback from domain experts to continuously train and improve the AI models for highly specialized functions.

Meanwhile, Thrive Holdings will own the intellectual property rights and products created through the joint effort.

Mehndiratta said that in addition to its equity, OpenAI gains insights from seeing its models tested and refined in real-world enterprise environments, which can inform its broader research.

He added, "We believe that aligning OpenAI through ownership is a similarly very powerful thing, where we can all focus on the North Star of how we go and build the leading products.”

Mehndiratta further stated that despite being a major investor in OpenAI, the partnership did not exclude Thrive Holdings from using other AI models, including open source, in its business.

Currently, Thrive Holdings serves over 10,000 customers across its accounting and IT services platforms.