Microsoft-backed OpenAI has acquired search and database analytics startup Rockset. The company is founded by two Indian techies — Venkat Venkataramani and Dhruba Borthakur — who have studied engineering in Indian institutions. Venkataramani, the CEO of Rockset, was a student at NIT Tiruchirappalli while Borthakur, who is the CTO is an alumnus of BITS Pilani.
Before founding Rockset, both founders worked as engineers at Facebook. Before Meta, Venkataramani worked in Oracle while Borthakur was associated with Yahoo.
What is Rockset
Rockset builds real-time search and analytics databases and has benefited from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in different applications from chatbots and anomaly detection. Backed by Greylock, Sequoia and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s venture capital arm, Rockset raised $105 million in total funding, the company announced last year.
What this accusation means for users
According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the companies haven’t disclosed the deal size yet. OpenAI reportedly used its shares to buy the company in a stock deal that valued Rockset at a few hundred million.
The report cited sources familiar with the matte to claim that this acquisition is one of its largest acquisitions by the fast-rising OpenAI. As per the report, Rockset was last valued at $86 billion in a tender offer by investors earlier this year.
Rockset said that its team will join OpenAI and the technology will power the retrieval infrastructure of the ChatGPT maker’s enterprise products. For users, the acquisition translates to faster and more accurate responses from OpenAI’s AI models.
Rockset’s capabilities will enhance OpenAI’s ability to quickly access and analyze vast amounts of information. This can be a crucial advantage as the company will target businesses with tools for rapid data indexing and search.
Recently, OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati has also predicted the jobs that AI may take away. Speaking at her alma mater, Dartmouth Engineering, Murati said that the next generation of ChatGPT will possess “PhD-level intelligence” for specific tasks. This advanced version is expected to launch in late 2025 or early 2026.
Before founding Rockset, both founders worked as engineers at Facebook. Before Meta, Venkataramani worked in Oracle while Borthakur was associated with Yahoo.
What is Rockset
Rockset builds real-time search and analytics databases and has benefited from the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in different applications from chatbots and anomaly detection. Backed by Greylock, Sequoia and Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s venture capital arm, Rockset raised $105 million in total funding, the company announced last year.
What this accusation means for users
According to a report by the news agency Reuters, the companies haven’t disclosed the deal size yet. OpenAI reportedly used its shares to buy the company in a stock deal that valued Rockset at a few hundred million.
The report cited sources familiar with the matte to claim that this acquisition is one of its largest acquisitions by the fast-rising OpenAI. As per the report, Rockset was last valued at $86 billion in a tender offer by investors earlier this year.
Rockset said that its team will join OpenAI and the technology will power the retrieval infrastructure of the ChatGPT maker’s enterprise products. For users, the acquisition translates to faster and more accurate responses from OpenAI’s AI models.
Rockset’s capabilities will enhance OpenAI’s ability to quickly access and analyze vast amounts of information. This can be a crucial advantage as the company will target businesses with tools for rapid data indexing and search.
Recently, OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati has also predicted the jobs that AI may take away. Speaking at her alma mater, Dartmouth Engineering, Murati said that the next generation of ChatGPT will possess “PhD-level intelligence” for specific tasks. This advanced version is expected to launch in late 2025 or early 2026.
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