IBL News | New York
OpenAI’s deployment arm made its second acquisition since its launch in May 2026, acquiring Northslope, an applied AI firm. The first one was Tomoro.
The terms of the Northslope deal were not disclosed, and the transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
Backed by $4 billion to fund acquisitions, the OpenAI Deployment Company — which is majority-owned and controlled by OpenAI — is adding hundreds of forward-deployed engineers as a result of the purchase, who will work alongside customers to build AI systems within their organizations.
Northslope’s founders come from Palantir, which uses a similar strategy of embedding engineers directly with customers to build software around their operations.
Forward-deployed engineers bridge the gap between teams and employees who want to use AI models for specific tasks but may struggle to craft effective implementations on their own.
Anthropic is also building an AI services company to help mid-sized businesses use Claude.