OpenAI has taken a stake in Thrive Holdings, a private equity group set up by one of its biggest investors, in the latest of a series of circular deals that?have enmeshed the $500bn start-up with its customers, suppliers and backers.

The deal announced on Monday means OpenAI will take a share in the group set up by New York-based Thrive Capital, which is run by Josh Kushner and is among the biggest backers of the artificial intelligence start-up alongside SoftBank, Microsoft and Khosla Ventures.

Thrive Capital invested more than $1bn into OpenAI in late 2024, whose value has more than tripled since then. It established Thrive Holdings earlier this year to acquire service providers such as accounting and IT firms, seeking to transform them using AI.