OpenAI Acquires Statsig for $1.1 Billion, Reshapes Leadership Team

OpenAI acquires product testing startup Statsig and shakes up its leadership team | TechCrunch

OpenAI announced in a blog post on Tuesday that it agreed to acquire the product testing startup, Statsig, and bring on its founder and CEO, Vijaye Raji, as the company's CTO of Applications. OpenAI is paying $1.1 billion for Statsig in an all-stock deal -- one of the largest acquisitions ever for the ChatGPT maker -- under the company's current $300 billion valuation, OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood told TechCrunch. The acquisition marks OpenAI's latest effort to build out its Applications business, helmed by the former CEO of Instacart, Fidji Simo, who started work at the company a few weeks ago. Raji will report to Simo and will head product engineering for ChatGPT, the company's AI coding tool Codex, and future applications that OpenAI plans to build. The company says that bringing Statsig's experimentation platform in-house will accelerate product development across the Applications organization. As Raji comes on board, OpenAI is making changes to its leadership team. The company's Chief Product Officer, Kevin Weil, will become VP of a new group called OpenAI for Science, he announced in a post on LinkedIn. Weil says the goal of his new organization "is to build the next great scientific instrument: an AI-powered platform that accelerates scientific discovery." Weil says he will work closely with Sebastien Bubeck, an OpenAI researcher and the Former VP AI and Distinguished Scientist 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," said Weil. "OpenAI's products have been my life since I joined, and they're in great hands." Meanwhile, OpenAI's current head of engineering, Srinivas Narayanan, announced in a post on LinkedIn that he would transition to a new role as the company's CTO of B2B Applications. In the role, Narayanan says he will collaborate directly with OpenAI's COO, Brad Lightcap, who oversees many of the company's relationships with enterprise customers. OpenAI says the Statsig acquisition is pending regulatory review. Once completed, the company says that all Statsig employees will become OpenAI employees. However, the product testing startup will "continue operating independently and serving its customer base out of its Seattle office," the company said in a blog post.

OpenAI to acquire product testing startup Statsig, appoints CTO of applications

Sept 2 (Reuters) - OpenAI said on Tuesday it will acquire Statsig in an all-stock deal valuing the product testing startup at about $1.1 billion based on OpenAI's current valuation of $300 billion. The ChatGPT maker will also appoint Statsig's chief executive officer, Vijaye Raji, as OpenAI's tech chief of applications, in a push to build on its artificial intelligence products amid strong competition from rivals. The move comes a few months after OpenAI acquired former iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup, io Products, in a $6.5 billion deal to help develop AI hardware. Bolstered by its flagship product ChatGPT, OpenAI doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion, and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year, Reuters reported in August. The company is also looking to close a tender offer round to employee liquidity at a $500 billion valuation. In his role, Vijaye will head product engineering for ChatGPT and the company's coding agent, Codex, with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure, the company said. Statsig builds tools to help software developers test and flag new features. It raised $100 million in funding earlier this year. Once the acquisition is finalized, Statsig employees will work for OpenAI but will continue operating independently out of its Seattle office, OpenAI said. Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Krystal Hu; Editing by Alan Barona Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

OpenAI acquires Statsig for $1.1 billion, brings on CEO as applications executive

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley Media and Technology Conference at the Sun Valley Resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 8, 2025. OpenAI continued its spending spree, announcing on Tuesday that it's acquired Statsig, a product development startup, for $1.1 billion. Statsig helps OpenAI and other companies test features and use real-time data in their operations. As part of the acquisition, Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji is joining OpenAI as technology chief in the applications unit. He will report to Fidji Simo, the former Instacart CEO who was tapped to lead OpenAI's applications business⁠ in May. "Working with the incredible team at OpenAI to build AI-powered experiences at scale for people and businesses is a rare and meaningful opportunity," Raji wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "Doing that with the help of tools we built at Statsig makes it even more special." Statsig will continue to operate independently and serve customers out of its Seattle office, OpenAI said. The acquisition is still subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval. "Vijaye has a remarkable record of building new consumer and B2B products and systems at scale," Simo said in a statement. OpenAI has been buying aggressively of late, putting some of the hefty cash pile it's raised and the soaring value of its stock to use to fuel growth in new areas. Its biggest splash came in May, when OpenAI acquired Jony Ive's AI devices startup IO for close to $6.5 billion in an all-equity deal that pushes the company firmly into hardware. Prior to that, OpenAI acquired analytics database company Rockset for an undisclosed sum in 2024. Earlier this year, OpenAI had planned to buy AI-assisted coding tool Windsurf for $3 billion, but a deal never materialized, and Google ended up bringing on the startup's co-founder as part of a $2.4 billion licensing deal. "The journey with Statsig has been deeply gratifying, leading me to this moment and giving me conviction that we will continue helping teams ship better software every day," Raji said in a statement.

OpenAI deepens Seattle-area footprint with blockbuster $1.1B acquisition of Statsig

OpenAI is significantly expanding its presence in the Seattle region with its $1.1 billion acquisition of Statsig. The ChatGPT maker announced Tuesday that it plans to acquire the Bellevue, Wash.-based startup behind a product development platform that helps companies test new features. Statsig, which employs more than 100 people in the Seattle area, will continue to operate independently from its Bellevue office. All of Statsig's employees are expected to have the option to transition to OpenAI. OpenAI, which is based in San Francisco, said in October that it had opened an office in Bellevue -- establishing a physical presence near its close partner Microsoft while tapping into the region's robust engineering talent pool. The company declined to provide an updated headcount for its Seattle-area workforce. It has about 169 employees in the region, according to LinkedIn. S. "Soma" Somasegar, managing director at Seattle venture firm Madrona -- an early investor in Statsig -- said OpenAI's acquisition reflects the strength of Seattle's tech clout. "They understand as much as anybody else the talent density we have," he said of OpenAI. The company has 18 open jobs based in Seattle, according to its jobs page. OpenAI is among more than 100 companies that operate satellite engineering offices in the Seattle region, known as a major hub for AI with Microsoft and Amazon's headquarters, as well as large outposts for Meta, Google, Alphabet, and other Silicon Valley giants. Seattle has the most AI engineers in the U.S. behind Silicon Valley, according to a report last year from venture capital firm SignalFire.

OpenAI buys software testing startup Statsig for $1.1B and creates a new role for its CEO - SiliconANGLE

OpenAI buys software testing startup Statsig for $1.1B and creates a new role for its CEO OpenAI said today it's buying Statsig Inc. in a $1.1 billion deal that's just as much of an acquihire as it is about bringing the product testing startup's technology into its fold. As part of the deal, Statsig founder and Chief Executive Vijaye Raji (pictured), who previously worked as a software engineer at Meta Platforms Inc., will join OpenAI as its new Chief Technology Officer of Applications. That's an entirely new role created just for him, and he will report directly to OpenAI's CEO of Applications Fidji Simo, who joined the company from Instacart earlier this year. "As part of this transition, we're acquiring Statsig, one of the most trusted experimentation platforms in the industry -- powering A/B testing, feature flagging, and real-time decisioning for some of the world's most innovative companies, including OpenAI," the company said in an announcement. The $1.1 billion price tag matches the valuation of Statsig following its most recent $100 million funding round in May. Because there's no premium being paid, that suggests Statsig and its investors are confident that OpenAI itself will continue to grow its value. The deal needs regulatory approval to proceed, but that's expected to be a formality. Once the deal closes, Statsig will continue to operate as an independent entity at its Seattle-based headquarters, serving its existing customers, which include OpenAI. Statsig's employees will be given the option to transition to OpenAI if they wish. Founded in 2021, Statsig helps customers including OpenAI to test new software features with select groups of users and gather feedback so companies can decide if they need to tweak anything, roll it out as it is, or cancel the new feature completely. The startup counts around 155 employees on its books, and after its latest funding round said it plans to grow its team to around 200 by the end of 2026. It's not clear if it's still planning to do so. Raji has previously made headlines for implementing what is a relatively unusual policy these days of insisting that all staff work at the company's office five days per week. By prohibiting remote work, he claims to have created a culture that fosters greater collaboration, speed and innovation. "Working with the incredible team at OpenAI to build AI-powered experiences at scale for people and businesses is a rare and meaningful opportunity," Raji wrote in a blog post. "Doing that with the help of tools we built at Statsig makes it even more special." S. "Soma" Somasegar, managing director of Madrona Ventures and an early investor in Statsig, said in his own blog post that the startup is a natural fit for OpenAI because of its "world-class product velocity" and its obsession with helping customers. He added that Statsig's data-driven approach has helped it to become one of the leading intelligent application design companies, and believes that OpenAI will help it to "extend its impact while keeping its mission front and center." OpenAI recently closed on its own, much bigger fund raise in March, which saw it collect $40 billion from investors, bringing its valuation to a sky-high $300 billion. The artificial intelligence giant wasted little time in putting that money to use. Just two months later, in May, it snapped up Jony Ive's AI devices startup IO Products Inc. for around $6.4 billion to support its efforts to "create a new generation of AI-powered computers". OpenAI was also said to be interested in buying the generative AI coding startup Windsurf for around $3 billion, but the negotiations apparently broke down. Then, in July, Google LLC managed to entice Windsurf's co-founders Varun Mohan and Douglas Chen to join its own AI team, as part of a $2.4 billion technology licensing deal. Days later, another AI coding startup called Cognition AI Inc. swooped in to acquire Windsurf, minus its co-founders.

OpenAI makes leadership change amid Statsig acquisition

Vijaye Raji will join OpenAI as the CTO of applications, heading product engineering for the ChatGPT platform, among others. Artificial Intelligence company OpenAI has acquired software platform Statsig, in an all-stock deal reportedly valued at $1.1bn. Following the acquisition, Vijaye Raji, the founder and CEO of Statsig, who also has experience leading large-scale consumer engineering at Meta, will join OpenAI, as the new CTO of applications. As part of this new role, Raji will head product engineering for OpenAI's ChatGPT and Codex systems, as well as oversee core systems and product lines, such as infrastructure and integrity. He will report to Fidji Simo, the former CEO of Instacart who recently joined OpenAI as its new CEO of applications. Commenting on the news, Simo said, "Vijaye has a remarkable record of building new consumer and B2B products and systems at scale. "He's joining at a time when our models are opening entirely new ways to build and his leadership will help turn that progress into safe applications that empower people with many new tools to improve their lives, help companies increase their impact and allow developers to build faster and better products." Once the acquisition is fully finalised, Statsig's employee base will become part of the OpenAI workforce, with OpenAI stating that the company will take a measured approach to integration and Statsig will "continue operating independently and serving its customer base out of its Seattle office". OpenAI, has made a point of investing heavily in the expansion of its services recently, with a number of high-profile announcements, such as the buying of Io, the AI start-up founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive and former Apple engineers, Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan. As well as the purchasing and launch of an office in Seoul, Korea, as the company aims to further its presence in Asia and develop its AI infrastructure. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

OpenAI to buy Bellevue-based startup for $1.1B

OpenAI has agreed to buy Bellevue-based product testing startup Statsig for $1.1 billion in an all-stock deal, the company said, marking one of the largest acquisitions in the ChatGPT maker's history. Statsig, founded in 2021, builds tools to help software developers test and flag potential new features. Its services have been used by employees at OpenAI, Eventbrite, SoundCloud and other tech firms, according to Statsig's website. Statsig raised $100 million in a funding round earlier this year, valuing it at $1.1 billion. As part of the acquisition, Statsig's founder and CEO Vijaye Raji will join OpenAI as chief technology officer of applications, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. He'll report to Fidji Simo, the former Instacart head who recently took over as CEO of that division. In a statement, Simo said Raji would help companies and developers use OpenAI's technology to build "safe applications that empower people." OpenAI has been more aggressive this year in pursuing big-ticket acquisitions, fueled in part by its soaring valuation. In March, OpenAI said it had finalized a deal to raise $40 billion in funding at a $300 billion valuation, including the money raised. Now, the company is in talks to let current and former employees sell shares at a $500 billion valuation, Bloomberg News has reported. In July, OpenAI closed a $6.5 billion all-stock deal to buy an AI device startup co-founded by Apple's former design chief Jony Ive. OpenAI also agreed to buy AI coding startup Windsurf for about $3 billion, but the deal fell through. The Statsig acquisition is pending regulatory review. After the deal closes, the startup will continue to operate in the Seattle area. In addition to Raji, OpenAI is making other changes to its leadership team. Kevin Weil, OpenAI's chief product officer, is taking on a new role as vice president of a new team called AI for Science, the spokesperson said. Srinivas Narayanan, vice president of engineering, will become chief technology officer of B2B applications. And several product leaders, including Nick Turley, Ashley Alexander and Ian Silber, will report to Simo.

OpenAI acquires Statsig for $1.1B and assign Vijaye Raji as the new CTO

OpenAI has initiated a series of significant executive reorganizations and a major acquisition as part of its ongoing expansion. Fidji Simo, formerly the CEO of Instacart, assumed the role of CEO of Applications at OpenAI on August 18th. Following Simo's appointment, OpenAI announced an executive reshuffle, the appointment of a new CTO of Applications, and the acquisition of Statsig, a product analytics firm, for $1.1 billion. Statsig specializes in A/B testing and provides tools for companies aimed at refining their products. Vijaye Raji, the founder and CEO of Statsig, will join OpenAI as its CTO of Applications. Raji will be responsible for overseeing product engineering for both ChatGPT and Codex. According to OpenAI's blog post, Raji's responsibilities will encompass "core systems and product lines including infrastructure and Integrity." He will report directly to Fidji Simo. The acquisition of Statsig is subject to regulatory approval. Once finalized, Statsig employees will transition to OpenAI. OpenAI stated in its blog post that Statsig will "continue operating independently and serving its customer base out of its Seattle office." The company emphasized a "measured approach to any future integration, ensuring continuity for current customers and enabling the team to stay focused on what they do best." In addition to the Statsig acquisition, OpenAI announced other executive role changes. Srinivas Narayanan, previously head of engineering and responsible for the development of ChatGPT and developer APIs, has been promoted to CTO of B2B Applications. In this newly created role, Narayanan will be responsible for overseeing business-side applications, spanning startups, enterprises, and government entities. He will report directly to Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's COO. Kevin Weil, OpenAI's Chief Product Officer, is transitioning to the research division of the company. Weil will establish a new team as VP of AI for Science, collaborating closely with Mark Chen, OpenAI's Chief Research Officer. As part of this transition, Weil's former product team, which includes Nick Turley, the head of ChatGPT, will now report directly to Fidji Simo.

OpenAI to acquire product testing startup Statsig, appoints CTO of applications - The Economic Times

OpenAI is buying startup Statsig in an all-stock deal worth $1.1 billion. Statsig's CEO, Vijaye Raji, will lead product engineering at OpenAI, focusing on ChatGPT and Codex. The move comes just a few months after OpenAI acquired Jony Ive's former startup, io Products. Statsig will stay independent but operate under OpenAI from its Seattle office.OpenAI said on Tuesday it will acquire Statsig in an all-stock deal valuing the product testing startup at about $1.1 billion based on OpenAI's current valuation of $300 billion. The ChatGPT maker will also appoint Statsig's chief executive officer, Vijaye Raji, as OpenAI's tech chief of applications, in a push to build on its artificial intelligence products amid strong competition from rivals. The move comes a few months after OpenAI acquired former iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup, io Products, in a $6.5 billion deal to help develop AI hardware. Bolstered by its flagship product ChatGPT, OpenAI doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion, and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year, Reuters reported in August. The company is also looking to close a tender offer round to employee liquidity at a $500 billion valuation. In his role, Vijaye will head product engineering for ChatGPT and the company's coding agent, Codex, with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure, the company said. Statsig builds tools to help software developers test and flag new features. It raised $100 million in funding earlier this year. Once the acquisition is finalized, Statsig employees will work for OpenAI but will continue operating independently out of its Seattle office, OpenAI said.

Who is OpenAI's Indian-origin applications CTO Vijaye Raji? - The Economic Times

Raji is an Indian-origin engineer with over 20 years in multiple roles across all major tech companies. He started his journey as a principal engineer at Microsoft, working on various frameworks, including Windows Application Framework, SQL Server Modeling Language, and Visual Studio Editor.OpenAI has appointed Indian-origin executive Vijaye Raji as the chief technology officer (CTO) of applications after the ChatGPT maker acquired his company, Statsig, in a deal worth $1.1 billion. This is a significant top-deck change to boost OpenAI's product development and engineering capability, especially for its consumer-facing applications such as ChatGPT and Codex. The move comes a few months after OpenAI acquired former iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup, io Products, in a $6.5 billion deal to help develop AI hardware. Here's what you need to know. Who is Raji? Raji is an Indian-origin engineer with over 20 years in multiple roles across all major tech companies. He started his journey as a principal engineer at Microsoft, working on various frameworks, including Windows Application Framework, SQL Server Modeling Language, and Visual Studio Editor. He then joined Facebook (now Meta), where he climbed the corporate ladder from software engineer to vice president and head of entertainment. He was tasked with overseeing Marketplace, Groups Commerce, Messenger for Windows, and helped scale the Seattle office to over 5,000 employees. In 2021, he decided to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions and founded Statsig. What is his job at OpenAI? In this newly created role, Raji will lead product engineering for OpenAI's application layer, including ChatGPT and Codex, overseeing infrastructure and product. He will report to Fidji Simo, the incoming chief executive officer (CEO) of applications at OpenAI. Simo was CEO at Instacart, an American grocery delivery platform, before taking up the offer from OpenAI. Simo will remain Instacart's CEO until a successor is appointed and continue to serve as chair of the board to support the leadership team. On May 7, she addressed the employees at Instacart to inform them about the transition, stating that it was a hard decision. "This was an incredibly hard decision because I love this company. We are operating incredibly well, as our last earnings results have shown. Our strategy is working, and this team is top-notch, which makes it very hard to leave," she said. Deal details Talent race in tech The global tech talent race, especially for AI, has grown complex in 2025, with tech giants and startups trying to one-up each other for top-tier engineers and researchers. Big Tech companies such as OpenAI, Google, Nvidia and Anthropic are offering lucrative packages to attract elite AI professionals. In particular, Meta and Microsoft are poaching researchers and engineers from rivals, offering millions of dollars in salary and benefits for AI specialists.

OpenAI Scoops Up Statsig In $1.1 Billion Deal, CEO Vijaye Raji Joins Applications Unit - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META)

OpenAI announced on Tuesday that it acquired Statsig, a product experimentation platform, as the artificial intelligence company continues its aggressive acquisition strategy. Statsig CEO Vijaye Raji will join OpenAI as Chief Technology Officer of Applications, reporting to former Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Key Leadership Addition Raji brings a decade of large-scale consumer engineering experience from Meta Platforms Inc. META and entrepreneurial expertise from founding Statsig. He will oversee product engineering for ChatGPT and Codex, spanning core systems, infrastructure, and integrity operations. "Vijaye has a remarkable record of building new consumer and B2B products and systems at scale," Simo said in a statement released Tuesday. OpenAI has snapped up Statsig in a $1.1 billion deal, according to CNBC. See Also: Google Ruling A 'Huge Win' For Big Tech, Says Dan Ives, Munster Labels Regulator's Bark 'Bigger' Than Bite -- Alphabet Stock Soars After Hours Platform Integration Benefits Statsig's A/B testing and feature flagging platform already powers experimentation for OpenAI and other major technology companies. The acquisition will bring the Seattle-based company in-house while maintaining independent operations for existing customers. "The Statsig platform has already played a central role in how we ship and learn quickly," OpenAI stated in its press release. Broader Acquisition Strategy The deal represents OpenAI's continued spending spree using its substantial cash reserves and rising stock valuation. The company completed a $6.5 billion all-equity acquisition of Jony Ive's AI hardware startup IO in July, bringing aboard 55 engineers and designers from Apple Inc. AAPL. OpenAI previously acquired analytics database company Rockset in 2024 for an undisclosed amount. A planned $3 billion acquisition of AI coding tool Windsurf fell through earlier this year. The Statsig acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval. Read Next: Jim Cramer Says 'Apple Own It Don't Trade It' After Judge Allows Google To Keep Search Deal With iPhone Maker: Stock Jumps 3% After Hours Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Svet foto / Shutterstock.com METAMeta Platforms Inc$738.65-0.01%Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock RankingsEdge RankingsMomentum81.76Growth84.86Quality90.04Value28.02Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewAAPLApple Inc$236.531.89%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

OpenAI to Acquire Statsig to Accelerate Experimentation and Application Development | PYMNTS.com

The Applications organization is responsible for "how our research reaches and benefits the world," the release said. Raji will head product engineering for ChatGPT and Codex, according to the release. Bringing Statsig in-house will strengthen OpenAI's ability to accelerate experimentation and enhance the experiences it delivers, the release said. Statsig employees will become OpenAI employees, the organization will continue operating independently and any future integration will be taken with a "measured approach," per the release. "Vijaye has a remarkable record of building new consumer and B2B products and systems at scale," Simo said in the release. "He's joining at a time when our models are opening entirely new ways to build, and his leadership will help turn that progress into safe applications that empower people with many new tools to improve their lives, help companies increase their impact and allow developers to build faster and better products." Raji said in the release that he and the Statsig team will "continue helping teams ship better software every day." "Joining OpenAI as CTO of Applications is an extraordinary opportunity to bring my experience scaling consumer and enterprise products to a mission I deeply believe in: advancing AI in ways that are capable of solving hard problems, reliable and truly beneficial to people everywhere." In a Tuesday blog post on the Statsig website, Raji said Statsig will continue to provide its services to its existing customers and invest in its core products. "Our customers will remain a top priority," Raji said. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced in May that the company had named Simo, who was head of Instacart at the time, as its CEO of Applications. "Applications brings together a group of existing business and operational teams responsible for how our research reaches and benefits the world, and Fidji is uniquely qualified to lead this group," Altman said at the time. Simo said in June that OpenAI is set to grow its business more than a hundredfold as the synergy among its different lines of business supercharges the company in the coming years.

OpenAI to acquire product testing startup Statsig, appoints CTO of applications

(Reuters) -OpenAI said on Tuesday it will acquire Statsig in an all-stock deal valuing the product testing startup at about $1.1 billion based on OpenAI's current valuation of $300 billion. The ChatGPT maker will also appoint Statsig's chief executive officer, Vijaye Raji, as OpenAI's tech chief of applications, in a push to build on its artificial intelligence products amid strong competition from rivals. The move comes a few months after OpenAI acquired former iPhone designer Jony Ive's startup, io Products, in a $6.5 billion deal to help develop AI hardware. Bolstered by its flagship product ChatGPT, OpenAI doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching an annualized run rate of $12 billion, and is on track to reach $20 billion by the end of the year, Reuters reported in August. The company is also looking to close a tender offer round to employee liquidity at a $500 billion valuation. In his role, Vijaye will head product engineering for ChatGPT and the company's coding agent, Codex, with responsibilities that span core systems and product lines including infrastructure, the company said. Statsig builds tools to help software developers test and flag new features. It raised $100 million in funding earlier this year. Once the acquisition is finalized, Statsig employees will work for OpenAI but will continue operating independently out of its Seattle office, OpenAI said. (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala and Krystal Hu; Editing by Alan Barona)