Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI to Acquire Product-Testing Start-Up Statsig for $1.1Bn, Founder Named CTO of Applications

OpenAI will acquire product-experimentation startup Statsig for $1.1B in stock, bringing founder Vijaye Raji in as CTO of applications to accelerate ChatGPT and Codex development

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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Photo: X_#@sama
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Summary
Summary of this article
  • OpenAI acquires Statsig in an all-stock deal valued at about $1.1B

  • Statsig founder Vijaye Raji named OpenAI CTO of applications

  • Deal accelerates A/B testing, feature flags and rapid product experimentation

  • Closing needs regulatory approval; Statsig’s Seattle team stays initially autonomous

OpenAI has agreed to acquire product-experimentation platform Statsig in an all-stock deal valuing the startup at about $1.1 Billion, the ChatGPT maker said on Tuesday.

The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, brings Statsig’s founder Vijaye Raji into OpenAI as chief technology officer of applications, where he will lead product engineering for ChatGPT, Codex and related application efforts.

OpenAI said the acquisition is an all-stock transaction priced off OpenAI’s current valuation (reported earlier this year at roughly $300 billion). Statsig, founded in 2021, provides A/B testing, feature flags and real-time decisioning tools used by developer teams at companies including OpenAI.

As part of the purchase, Raji will report to Fidji Simo, chief executive of OpenAI’s applications division, and Statsig’s Seattle team will continue operating from its existing office while remaining initially autonomous.

Why OpenAI bought Statsig

OpenAI framed the acquisition as a strategic move to accelerate safe, data-driven product development across its growing applications portfolio. By owning a platform that powers rapid experimentation and feature-flagging,

OpenAI aims to shorten feedback loops, ship features faster and improve reliability and integrity across consumer and enterprise products, a priority as the company scales ChatGPT to hundreds of millions of users.

The deal accompanies broader internal changes at OpenAI: Kevin Weil will move from chief product officer to lead a new “AI for Science” team, Srinivas Narayanan becomes chief technology officer of B2B applications, and several product leads will report into Simo’s apps organisation.

OpenAI said the move consolidates product engineering leadership to better integrate experimentation practices across core products.

Context

The Statsig purchase follows a stream of high-value deals by OpenAI this year, including acquisitions of hardware and product startups.

The company has ramped hiring and infrastructure investments as it expands its commercial footprint; recent public reports have pointed to billion-dollar-plus valuations and large fundraising rounds that underpin aggressive M&A and infrastructure plans.

Statsig raised roughly $100 million earlier in 2025 and counts corporate users across tech. OpenAI did not disclose transaction mechanics beyond the all-stock structure nor the precise number of shares involved; the deal remains contingent on customary closing conditions, including regulatory sign-offs.

Industry impact

Analysts say the purchase strengthens OpenAI’s internal tooling for experimentation, a critical capability for safely iterating on generative-AI features at scale.

Key follow-ups to monitor- regulatory review and timing of the close, how quickly Statsig’s technology is integrated into OpenAI’s release pipelines, whether the move accelerates feature velocity without compromising safety, and potential customer-contract implications for Statsig’s existing commercial users.

By buying Statsig and elevating its founder to a senior product-engineering role, OpenAI is investing in the operational muscle needed to ship, test and govern AI features more quickly, a tactical play to translate large-model capabilities into reliable, user-facing products.

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