OpenAI Buys Rockset; AI Search and Analytics Database May Enhance Sustainability Applications

OpenAI has acquired Rockset, an in-app search and analytics database startup. The deal has potential implications for cloud-scale search and analytics applications -- including sustainability and climate-tech use cases. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is M&A deal number 207 that Sustainable Tech Partner has covered so far in 2024. See all M&A deals involving sustainability, climate tech and green IT services listed here.

Rockset: In-App Search, Analytics Database Details

Rockset is based in San Mateo, California. Former Facebook engineers Venkat Venkataramani and Dhruba Borthakur co-founded Rockset in 2016. As of August 2023, the company had raised to $105 million since the company's inception. Early momentum involved replacing Elasticsearch in modern data applications, the company said at the time.

Looking ahead, Rockset will "become part of OpenAI and power the retrieval infrastructure backing OpenAI’s product suite. We’ll be helping OpenAI solve the hard database problems that AI apps face at massive scale," Venkataramani wrote in a Rockset blog announcing the deal.

In a prepared statement, OpenAI COO Brad Lightcap said: “Rockset’s infrastructure empowers companies to transform their data into actionable intelligence. We’re excited to bring these benefits to our customers by integrating Rockset’s foundation into OpenAI products."

Sustainability Use Cases: Take a closer look at Rockset, and you'll notice some sustainability-focused deployments. One example: Matter, a Danish Fintech firm, leverages Rockset to help investors understand how corporations and governments align with sustainable practices, across climate, environmental, social and governance-related themes, a case study notes.

We don't know if or how Rockset's infrastructure and applications will make OpenAI more sustainable. OpenAI often notes that it runs on Microsoft Azure -- which has a well-documented sustainability strategy. But we don't know Rockset's overall Net Zero or Scope 3 net zero goals.

Potential Microsoft Cloud Services Benefits?

We'll be watching to see how Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Copilot potentially benefit from Rockset's in-app search and data analytics capabilities.