OpenAI is buying database analytics company Rockset in a nine-figure deal, sources say

Microsoft-backed OpenAI has acquired database search and analysis startup Rockset to provide better infrastructure for its enterprise products, the ChatGPT maker said Friday.

The companies did not disclose the size of the deal. OpenAI used its stock to buy the company in an all-stock deal that values ​​Rockset at a few hundred million, making it one of the largest acquisitions by the fast-growing AI lab, according to sources familiar with the matter.

OpenAI declined to comment on the details of the deal. The company was recently valued at $86 billion in a takeover bid by investors earlier this year.

Rockset, founded by former Meta engineers, builds databases for real-time research and analytics, and has leveraged the use of artificial intelligence in applications such as chatbots and anomaly detection.

Backed by Greylock, Sequoia and the venture capital arm of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Rockset said it secured a total of $105 million in funding last year.

Why is it important

Rockset said its team will join OpenAI and the technology will support the query infrastructure for the ChatGPT maker’s enterprise products.

This means that Rockset’s expertise in real-time data processing and vector searching will improve OpenAI’s ability to quickly access and analyze massive amounts of information. This will likely lead to faster and more accurate responses from AI models as Rockset looks to sell tools to companies to quickly index and search their data.

Context

OpenAI is committed to staying ahead of the curve by expanding its offerings, building on the success of its consumer product ChatGPT.

OpenAI demonstrated ChatGPT Enterprise, the enterprise version of chatbot and AI services, known as APIs, to executives at large companies.

OpenAI is also integrating new features into ChatGPT and developing new AI models to combat competition from Alphabet, Google, and Anthropic.

Reuters reported last month that OpenAI is developing a search engine product to compete with Google and AI search startup Perplexity. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Simmath and Stephen Coates)