Overview
- Reports this week say OpenAI has bought Kiel-based Ona and will move the entire Ona team into its Codex group to integrate the startup’s technology and talent.
- Ona, founded in 2020 as Gitpod, provides instant browser-based, reproducible development environments that the company says have been used by millions of developers.
- OpenAI has positioned the purchase as strategic because Codex now has more than five million weekly users and has grown about 400% year to date, increasing demand for persistent execution environments.
- Ona raised roughly €30 million from investors including Speedinvest, General Catalyst, Crane Venture Partners, Vertex Ventures US, MongoDB Ventures and Shopify founder Tobi Lütke, and coverage calls the sale one of the larger recent German startup exits.
- The acquisition signals further consolidation of AI tooling and infrastructure as major firms secure developer-facing platforms and engineering teams, and it could speed Codex features for enterprise security, compliance, and long-running agent workflows.