OpenAI Acquires Rockset to Enhance Enterprise AI Solutions

OpenAI has announced the acquisition of Rockset, a company specializing in real-time search and data analytics tools.

In a blog post, OpenAI stated that Rockset’s technology will be integrated into its infrastructure to enhance its product offerings. Rockset’s team will join OpenAI, and the transition for existing Rockset customers will be gradual.

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

"Rockset's infrastructure enables companies to transform data into actionable insights," said OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap. "We’re excited to integrate Rockset’s technology into our products to benefit our customers."

Founded in 2016 by ex-Facebook engineers Venkat Venkataramani and Tudor Bosman, along with database architect Dhruba Borthakur, Rockset developed tools for automatic data ingestion from databases and cloud storage, indexing it for search and analytics. Their platform supports applications such as recommendation engines, logistics dashboards, and chatbots in fintech and e-commerce.

Before the acquisition, Rockset raised over $117.5 million from investors including Icon Ventures, Sequoia, and Greylock. Notable clients included Meta and JetBlue, which used Rockset for a flight delay prediction chatbot.

OpenAI’s blog post suggests that Rockset’s technology will help companies better utilize their data and access real-time information through OpenAI products. This could lead to improved tools for grounding OpenAI’s models on company-specific data, potentially reducing errors and fine-tuning models for various business applications.

Venkataramani shared his thoughts in the announcement:

"Advanced retrieval infrastructure like Rockset will enhance the power and utility of AI applications," he wrote. "Rockset will be integrated into OpenAI’s product suite, addressing complex database challenges at scale."

This acquisition aligns with OpenAI’s recent strategy of bolstering its enterprise sales and technology sectors. In May, OpenAI partnered with PwC to resell its tools to other businesses, and in April, it launched a custom model tuning and consulting program.

These initiatives seem to be paying off, with OpenAI’s annual revenue expected to exceed $3.4 billion this year. The enterprise tier of its popular AI chatbot platform, ChatGPT, boasts nearly 600,000 users, including 93% of Fortune 500 companies.

Rockset is OpenAI’s second public acquisition, following the purchase of Global Illumination, a New York-based startup developing AI-driven creative tools and infrastructure.