Thrive Holdings seeks about $2B to buy service firms and add AI

In short: Thrive Holdings, a Thrive Capital-affiliated company, is raising around $2 billion to buy accounting and IT services firms and use AI to speed up routine work.

What happened

Thrive Holdings is a holding company connected to Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital. Its plan is to buy controlling stakes in established service businesses, then run them while adding AI tools to everyday workflows.

Reuters has described this approach as an “AI consolidation strategy.” That means buying many traditional firms in the same area and trying to improve how they work using AI (like giving many small offices the same new set of power tools).

The company has focused early on accounting and IT services. Reports have linked it to accounting platform Current, which has bought nearly 50 local accounting practices, and to Shield Technology Partners, an IT-services platform that buys smaller IT firms. Forbes reported Thrive planned to commit $1 billion to accounting acquisitions through Current, and Bloomberg reported a $100 million investment into Shield.

Investor interest has also been reported. SoftBank is said to be among backers or parties showing interest, alongside Altimeter and D1 Capital Partners, as part of a fundraising effort reported around $2 billion.

OpenAI is involved as well. OpenAI said in December 2025 it would take an ownership stake in Thrive Holdings and work with it to speed up AI use in businesses. Reuters reported OpenAI would provide a specialized research team and resources in exchange, rather than paying cash.

Why it matters

Accounting and IT services touch many parts of daily life, from taxes to company tech support. If AI can take over repetitive, rules-based tasks, these firms may work faster and cheaper. It could also change job tasks in these fields, since some work may shift from manual processing to reviewing and checking AI-made outputs.

Source: NYTimes