OpenAI-backed Thrive Holdings raises $2 billion to buy and automate service firms

Thrive Holdings, the OpenAI-backed permanent-capital vehicle from Thrive Capital, said it raised $2 billion in new funding to keep buying traditional service businesses and layering AI tools on top. The round, announced August 12, 2026, valued the firm at $12 billion.

The raise scales up an unusual bet: acquire unglamorous companies, such as accounting firms and IT-services shops, and use AI to run them more cheaply, a model the firm likens to private equity for AI. Thrive Holdings announced the raise alongside new backers SoftBank Group, D1 Capital Partners and Altimeter Capital.

Thrive Holdings is separate from its parent, Thrive Capital, the venture firm run by Josh Kushner. OpenAI took an equity stake in Thrive Holdings in December 2025.

The portfolio spans roughly 70 businesses. They include Current, an accounting roll-up of more than 50 firms and 2,000-plus professionals running a tool called TaxAI, and Shield, an IT-services platform of around 20 companies.

The new capital also funds a regulatory-services vertical aimed at physical infrastructure. Whether AI tooling actually lifts margins at decades-old service firms — the premise of the whole vehicle — is the test the $2 billion is now betting on.