OpenAI To Acquire Cloud Startup Ona To Power AI Agents

OpenAI has reached an agreement to acquire cloud platform startup Ona to integrate its cloud infrastructure into the Codex team and power the next generation of autonomous AI agents.

• Once the acquisition closes, Ona's team and cloud technology will join OpenAI’s Codex division.
• Ona provides secure cloud environments that allow AI agents to execute long-running, complex workflows independently.
• The deal, whose financial terms remain undisclosed, comes alongside other major enterprise expansions by OpenAI, including a recent partnership with Visa to facilitate AI-driven e-commerce. 

OpenAI has agreed to acquire Ona, a startup specializing in secure, cloud-based environments, in a move to bolster its development of autonomous artificial intelligence agents.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and the acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. Upon closing, Ona’s team and its technology will be integrated into OpenAI’s Codex division, which currently supports AI coding tools used by more than five million people weekly.

Ona Deal Strengthens OpenAI’s Enterprise AI Push

The acquisition highlights a major industry shift toward "AI agents"—software capable of performing complex, multi-step tasks in the background without needing constant human intervention. Ona’s platform provides the secure, persistent cloud infrastructure required to keep these digital assistants running continuously, even after a user closes their device.

"Enterprises want powerful agents that can do real work while meeting the security and control requirements of their environments," Thibault Sottiaux, OpenAI's Core Products Lead, said in a statement. "Ona will help us make Codex easier to deploy securely across production workflows for customers operating at the highest standards of trust and scale." 

"Agents need more than intelligence; they need a trusted workspace," said Johannes Landgraf, co-founder and CEO of Ona. 

OpenAI said that once integrated, the combined teams will focus on helping engineering workflows safely tackle long-term software lifecycle tasks, such as automated vulnerability scanning, application modernization, and testing. Until the deal officially closes, the two entities will continue to operate as separate, independent companies. 

"Agents need more than intelligence; they need a trusted workspace," said Johannes Landgraf, co-founder and CEO of Ona. 

OpenAI’s Visa Partnership

The acquisition comes amidst a broader enterprise push by OpenAI. It closely follows a major partnership announcement with Visa, aimed at allowing AI agents to securely handle financial transactions and purchases on behalf of users, signaling OpenAI's intention to anchor its technology deeply into day-to-day business and consumer workflows.

Visa will integrate its global payments network, tokenization technology and security infrastructure into OpenAI’s platform to support AI-initiated transactions.

The companies said the goal is to allow developers and merchants to accept Visa payments triggered by AI agents while maintaining secure and trusted transaction flows.

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