OpenAI faces a vast range of AI competitors — with new startup contenders springing up all the time.
To stay on top, OpenAI has raised billions of dollars in funding and ramped up its hiring into the thousands of employees.
It has also acquired 3 startups in the last year to add new enterprise tech capabilities and talent, as noted in the Acquisition Insights on OpenAI’s CB Insights profile.
Catering to enterprises presents a massive potential revenue source. The demand is clearly there: users of its ChatGPT Enterprise offering grew 4x in a matter of months, from 150,000 in January 2024 to 600,000 in April 2024.
Its 3 acquisitions so far — Multi, Rockset, and Global Illumination — arm it with key capabilities and talent to target that segment. For instance:
- Multi developed a video platform for remote team collaboration across shared screens, and its small team is reportedly joining OpenAI’s ChatGPT desktop unit. Enhancing ChatGPT for desktops is an opportunity for OpenAI to embed itself deeper in enterprise workflows like software engineering.
- Rockset has developed an approach to speed up data retrieval and processing for AI systems — potentially a key enabler for OpenAI’s enterprise capabilities, particularly in industries where access to real-time data (like financial analysis and cybersecurity) is essential. Notably, Rockset was previously backed by Sequoia Capital — also an investor in OpenAI.
Broadly, OpenAI’s 3 acquisitions share a few common traits: they focus on small teams with strong talent, they’re relatively early in their commercial trajectory, and they develop enterprise AI tools or infrastructure.
Using this criteria and CB Insights data, we built a shortlist of 60+ potential OpenAI M&A targets, with a focus on emerging AI players with strong management teams, that the company could go after next to sharpen its B2B focus.
