OpenAI announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire product testing startup Statsig in an all-stock deal valued at $1.1 billion — one of the largest acquisitions in the company’s history. The move underscores OpenAI’s commitment to expanding its Applications division under the leadership of Fidji Simo, the former Instacart CEO who recently joined the company.
As part of the acquisition, Statsig’s founder and CEO, Vijaye Raji, will join OpenAI as CTO of Applications, reporting to Simo. Raji will oversee product engineering for ChatGPT, the AI coding assistant Codex, and upcoming applications that OpenAI plans to develop. OpenAI says that integrating Statsig’s experimentation platform will help accelerate product development across its growing suite of consumer and enterprise offerings.
The $1.1 billion deal was confirmed by OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood, who told TechCrunch that it falls under OpenAI’s current $300 billion valuation. Once the acquisition closes — pending regulatory approval — all Statsig employees will transition to OpenAI, though the startup will “continue operating independently and serving its customer base out of its Seattle office,” according to the company’s blog post.
Alongside the acquisition, OpenAI is making several leadership changes. Kevin Weil, the company’s Chief Product Officer, announced he will transition to become VP of a new initiative called OpenAI for Science. Weil wrote on LinkedIn that the goal of the organization “is to build the next great scientific instrument: an AI-powered platform that accelerates scientific discovery.” He will collaborate with Sebastien Bubeck, a leading researcher at OpenAI and former VP of AI at Microsoft.
“I’m able to do this because the product and design leaders at OpenAI are amazing, and now are complemented by Fidji Simo beginning her role as CEO of Applications,” Weil said, adding that OpenAI’s product efforts “are in great hands.”
Meanwhile, Srinivas Narayanan, OpenAI’s head of engineering, will shift to a new role as CTO of B2B Applications, working directly with COO Brad Lightcap to deepen the company’s enterprise partnerships.
The acquisition and leadership changes highlight OpenAI’s broader strategy to strengthen its consumer and enterprise applications while also pushing into scientific research.
