((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
(Updated deal details and background) by Krystal Hu and Akash Sriram
Microsoft-backed OpenAI has acquired database search and analysis startup Rockset to provide better infrastructure for its enterprise products, the maker of ChatGPT said Friday.
The companies did not disclose the amount of the transaction. OpenAI used its shares to buy the company in a stock transaction that values Rockset at a few hundred million, making it one of the growing AI lab’s largest acquisitions, according to sources familiar with the subject.
OpenAI declined to comment on the details of the operation. The company was last valued at $86 billion in a tender offer launched by investors earlier this year.
Rockset, founded by former Meta META.O engineers, builds real-time search and analytics databases and has benefited from the use of artificial intelligence in applications such as chatbots and sensing. anomalies.
Backed by Greylock, Sequoia and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s venture capital arm HPE.N , Rockset said last year it had raised $105 million in total funding.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Rockset said its team would join OpenAI and its technology would power the ChatGPT maker’s enterprise product research infrastructure.
This means that Rockset’s expertise in real-time data processing and vector search will enhance OpenAI’s ability to quickly access and analyze large amounts of information, which should enable models to AI to provide faster and more accurate answers, as the company tries to sell businesses tools to quickly index and search their data.
CONTEXT
OpenAI is looking to stay ahead of the curve by expanding its offerings, building on the success of its consumer product ChatGPT.
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Enterprise, the enterprise version of its chatbot and AI services known as APIs, to executives of large companies.
The company is also integrating new features into ChatGPT and developing new AI models to face competition from Google (Alphabet) and Anthropic, among others.
Reuters reported last month that OpenAI has developed a search engine to compete with Google and AI search startup Perplexity.
