Databricks scoops up OpenAI competitor MosaicML for $1.3 billion

Investors continue to pour billions into generative artificial intelligence (AI) as demand for AI applications shows no sign of slowing down. This unrelenting flow of funds also manifests in the increased merger and acquisition activity. The latest is San Francisco-based Databricks.

On Monday, Databricks announced it has agreed to acquire generative AI startup MosaicML in a deal worth $1.3 billion. MosaicML is an open-source startup with a neural network platform built to help organizations to train expansive language models and seamlessly deploy powerful generative AI tools that leverage these models. MosaicML’s expertise in the field of neural networks positions them as pioneers in the realm of generative AI technology.

The news of the acquisition comes just a month after Databricks acquired Okera, the world’s first AI-centric data governance platform. The two companies did not disclose the terms of the acquisition. MosaicML, which was last valued at a million, had raised about $64 million from high-profile investors that included DCVC, AME Cloud Ventures, Lux, Frontline, Atlas, Playground Global, and Samsung Next.

As part of the acquisition deal, MosaicML will become a part of the Databricks Lakehouse Platform. In addition, MosaicML will also integrate its generative AI tooling with Databricks’ comprehensive range of multi-cloud solutions to further enhance the already robust offerings provided by Databricks, creating a powerful and comprehensive platform for organizations seeking advanced AI solutions.

Founded in 2021 by Naveen Rao, MosaicML has gained recognition for its cutting-edge MPT (Mosaic Prediction Transformer) large language models (LLMs). These models have garnered significant attention, with MPT-7B amassing over 3.3 million downloads. Recently, MosaicML unveiled the impressive MPT-30B, further solidifying their expertise in the field. By enabling organizations to swiftly construct and train their own state-of-the-art models using their unique data, MosaicML has established itself as a cost-effective solution provider. Prominent customers, including AI2 (Allen Institute for AI), Generally Intelligent, Hippocratic AI, Replit, and Scatter Labs, rely on MosaicML to address diverse generative AI requirements.

In a statement, Databricks Co-Founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi said, “Every organization should be able to benefit from the AI revolution with more control over how their data is used. Databricks and MosaicML have an incredible opportunity to democratize AI and make the Lakehouse the best place to build generative AI and LLMs.” He added, “Databricks and MosaicML’s shared vision, rooted in transparency and a history of open source contributions, will deliver value to our customers as they navigate the biggest computing revolution of our time.”

Databricks was founded in 2013 by Ali Ghodsi (CEO), Andy Konwinski, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, Patrick Wendell, Reynold Xin, and Scott Shenker. The startup provides an enterprise software platform that helps its customers unify their analytics across the business, data science, and data engineering. More than 5,000 organizations worldwide, including Comcast, Condé Nast, Nationwide, H&M, and over 40% of the Fortune 500, use Databricks’ unified data platform for data engineering, machine learning, and analytics.