In the AI industry's latest head-spinning move, OpenAI just announced it's taking an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings - the private equity arm of Thrive Capital, which happens to be one of OpenAI's biggest investors. It's a classic Silicon Valley ouroboros that perfectly captures how a small group of companies keeps passing money around in increasingly creative circles.
OpenAI just pulled off another circular deal that would make even seasoned Silicon Valley watchers dizzy. The company announced it's taking an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings, the private equity investment arm of Thrive Capital - which, in a twist that surprises absolutely no one, is one of OpenAI's main investors.
Here's where it gets interesting: OpenAI didn't actually spend any money on this stake. Instead, according to anonymous sources cited by the Financial Times, the company will provide Thrive Holdings' portfolio companies with "employees, models, products, and services." Think of it as sweat equity, but with algorithms.
The deal perfectly captures what critics call the AI industry's FOMO-driven investment cycle, where a small group of companies keeps handing money back and forth in increasingly creative arrangements. It's like watching a very expensive game of hot potato, except the potato is billions of dollars and everyone's pretending it's totally normal.
Thrive Holdings is laser-focused on two sectors: IT services and accounting. "It's in these high-volume, rules-driven, workflow-heavy processes where OpenAI's platform can drive immediate benefits," the company explained in its announcement. The stated goal? Use AI to "boost speed, accuracy, and cost efficiency while strengthening service quality" - basically the AI pitch deck template everyone's using these days.
Joshua Kushner, who runs both Thrive Holdings and its parent Thrive Capital, sees this as part of a bigger shift. Kushner - yes, that's President Trump's brother-in-law's brother - told investors that AI is different from past technologies that changed industries "from the outside in." Instead, "we believe this paradigm shift will happen from the inside out as domain experts and practitioners use AI as a native tool to reshape their fields," he said.
The timing isn't coincidental. With Trump back in office and AI boosters like David Sacks positioned to benefit from industry growth, these deals are happening in a particularly friendly regulatory environment.
