- OpenAI acquires Tomoro to help found DeployCo with an initial investment of $4 billion
- Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) will be integrated into client companies
- We already know that companies make up 40% of OpenAI’s revenue
OpenAI has launched an enterprise-focused consultancy called the OpenAI Deployment Company (DeployCo) in an effort to help business customers actually deploy AI at scale rather than just experiment with it.
It comes from the acquisition of UK AI consultancy Tomoro, which sees around 150 AI engineers and deployment specialists move to the new Deployment Company.
“It will launch with more than $4 billion in initial investment,” declared OpenAI, which will help establish DeployCo as its own standalone business unit, despite OpenAI retaining majority ownership and control.
OpenAI Deployment Company
Under the new arrangement, the ChatGPT maker will embed frontier AI engineers and experts in customer organizations to identify the workflows where AI could deliver the best gains. They will be known as Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs).
OpenAI sees the positioning of DeployCo as an important one – FDEs have visibility across both the future of where frontier AI capabilities are headed and experience in helping companies execute large-scale transformations.
“AI is becoming able to do more and more meaningful work in organizations,” commented Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser. “The challenge now is to help companies integrate these systems into the infrastructure and workflows that run their businesses.”
The launch of DeployCo shows a much greater appetite for enterprise business, with the company competing not only with AI competitors like Anthropic, but also traditional software vendors like Microsoft and Google.
In a previous post, the company noted that so-called ‘frontier companies’ are now using 3.5 times more artificial intelligence per employed than typical companies – up from 2x last year. OpenAI sees a “shift from chat-based assistance to delegated work with agents,” so it makes a lot of sense to launch DeployCo FDEs to help companies redesign workflows and tightly integrate AI.
The company also previously shared that businesses make up 40% of its revenue – a share that is only expected to grow.
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