Josh Kushner secured $2 billion to acquire the companies that are being targeted by AI.

      Nearly every AI company offers a product. Someone develops a model or tool, licenses it, and hopes that the customer figures out how to utilize it. Thrive Holdings takes a different approach. It acquires accounting and IT service firms entirely, integrates its own engineers into them, and redefines their operational processes. The company now owns over 70 businesses.

      On Wednesday, it announced the successful raising of more than $2 billion in new capital, achieving a valuation of $12 billion, as first reported by The New York Times. The total capital raised since its inception has now exceeded $3 billion.

      This marks the first time Thrive has received external funding. SoftBank Group, D1 Capital Partners, and Altimeter Capital led this investment round. Previously, Thrive Holdings had operated on around $1 billion in commitments from its parent company, Thrive Capital, according to Tech Funding News.

      Kushner established Thrive Holdings as a separate entity from Thrive Capital in 2025. Thrive Capital is 16 years old and has invested in companies like OpenAI, Stripe, and SpaceX, recently closing a $10 billion fund in February.

      This spinout represents a shift in strategy rather than just a side venture. Kushner already has stakes in companies developing AI and is now focusing on acquiring those that will need to utilize it.

      The involvement of SoftBank sends a significant signal, as Masayoshi Son has remarked that referring to AI as a bubble is derogatory.

      What the 70 businesses do is as follows: Current functions as the accounting division, growing to encompass over 50 firms and more than 2,000 professionals, while Shield serves as the IT division with around 20 companies. Neither sector is particularly glamorous, which is intentional. Thrive seeks out markets that are large, fragmented, essential, and operationally complex, with both accounting and IT support meeting these criteria.

      The performance metrics are impressive. Current’s tax agents, branded as TaxAI, have managed over 7,000 tax returns with a 98% accuracy rate, reducing preparation time by over 30%. Shield reports that its tools have increased help desk resolution speed by 36 times, and custom agent deployments have approximately doubled within the past month.

      All of these statistics are provided by Thrive, and none have been audited or published against a baseline. A 36-fold acceleration is a ratio without a reference point, and a 98% accuracy rate on tax returns lacks clarity on what constitutes a failure.

      The third focus area is related to permits. Part of the raised funds will support a new vertical involving the regulatory tasks associated with physical assets, including permits, inspections, technical documentation, and compliance tracking. Target sectors include data centers, manufacturing, healthcare, energy, water, and transportation.

      Founding member Anuj Mehndiratta explained to TechCrunch that "the US must build and modernize more critical infrastructure, but projects are often hindered by local, technical, and regulatory complexities." These constraints are becoming increasingly significant, with over 500 US towns currently imposing restrictions or outright bans on data centers.

      Kareem Zaki, another founding member, described the approach as one of compression, stating that AI can help "streamline regulatory bottlenecks, maintain high safety standards, while also reducing the associated burden."

      Mehndiratta was cautious in highlighting the limits of this approach, emphasizing that AI will not replace fieldwork, local discretion, or professional approvals.

      The synergy that enables this model is crucial. OpenAI acquired an ownership interest in Thrive Holdings in December 2025, leading to OpenAI employees working directly within Thrive's portfolio companies. Thrive Capital is also one of the prominent investors in OpenAI, creating a situation where OpenAI owns a part of a company that spun off from a firm that also partially owns OpenAI.

      This structure is indicative of a growing trend in the AI economy. Lambda recently borrowed $917 million to purchase chips from a company that invests in it.

      SoftBank is also in the mix, being one of OpenAI's major investors and now having stakes in a company leveraging OpenAI personnel.

      Thrive is not an isolated case. OpenAI has formed DeployCo in partnership with TPG and Bain Capital, a joint venture valued at $10 billion. Anthropic has developed Ode with Blackstone. All three entities place engineers within client organizations instead of merely selling licenses. The shared bet is that the real profit lies in implementation, rather than the model itself.

      The concept of consolidation is spreading too, with Beacon securing $225 million for its own AI roll-up.

      What distinguishes Thrive is ownership. While DeployCo and Ode operate for their clients, Thrive owns its businesses outright, allowing it to retain margins rather than just billing for services rendered.

      It is essential to note that this conversation is centered around the United States, with Thrive explicitly stating its intention to facilitate the modernization and construction of critical American infrastructure, without mention of any European market.

      The model is certainly applicable elsewhere; European accounting and IT