Databricks Pays $1.3B for Generative AI Startup MosaicML

Data storage and analytics firm Databricks has acquired generative AI model startup MosaicML for $1.3 billion. MosaicML’s platform for training large language models and generative AI tools will join Databricks Lakehouse Platform for AI and data services and make Databricks a credible competitor for OpenAI and other generative AI foundation model developers.

Databricks MosaicML

MosaicML created the MPT LLMs, a portfolio of models with different parameter sizes. The open-source models have become very popular, counting clients like the Allen Institute for AI, Hippocratic AI, and Replit among the 3.3 million downloads of the MPT-7B model. The company recently debuted the MPT-30B, a model with more than four times the number of parameters. The company claims its “automatic optimization of model training” completes the training process anywhere from two to seven times faster than the more common methods.

“At MosaicML, we believe in a world where everyone is empowered to build and train their own models, imbued with their own opinions and viewpoints — and joining forces with Databricks will help us make that belief a reality,” MosaicML CEO Naveen Rao said. “We started MosaicML to solve the hard engineering and research problems necessary to make large scale training more accessible to everyone. With the recent generative AI wave, this mission has taken center stage. Together with Databricks, we will tip the scales in the favor of many — and we’ll do it as kindred spirits: researchers turned entrepreneurs sharing a similar mission. We look forward to continuing this journey together with the AI community.”

Databricks’ clientele store and process data with its products, meaning the company has a lot of potential training databases for those clients just waiting for a generative AI model to go through them. With MosaicML’s models integrated into its platform, Databricks has an opportunity for its customers to develop generative AI projects with them rather than turning to OpenAI or other model providers. Databricks claims that merging MosaicML’s models with Databricks’ existing technology will drop the price for training and deploying LLMs from millions to thousands of dollars. The acquisition price sextuples the $222 million valuation for MosaicML, which has raised about $64 million in total. The acquisition will also see the entire staff of MosaicML join Databricks.

“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,” Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said. “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.”

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