OpenAI acquires Convogo team in latest acqui-hire move

OpenAI has begun the new year with another acqui-hire, moving to acquire the team behind Convogo, a business software platform used by executive coaches, consultants, talent leaders and HR teams to automate leadership assessments and feedback reporting.

According to a report by TechCrunch, an OpenAI spokesperson stated that the company is not acquiring Convogo’s intellectual property or underlying technology, but is instead hiring the team to contribute to its AI cloud initiatives. Convogo’s three co-founders, Matt Cooper, Evan Cater and Mike Gillett, will join OpenAI as part of what a source familiar with the matter described as an all-stock transaction. Convogo’s product will be wound down.

Convogo originated as a weekend hackathon inspired by a question from Cooper’s mother, who works as an executive coach, about whether artificial intelligence could automate the time-consuming process of report writing and allow coaches to focus more on human-led coaching. Over the past two years, the company informed that its platform had supported thousands of coaches and partnered with leading global leadership development firms.

In an email announcing the acquisition, the Convogo team stated that their work revealed a broader challenge of bridging the gap between rapid advances in AI model capabilities and translating those capabilities into practical, real-world outcomes for professionals. The founders informed that they believe purpose-built user experiences are key to closing that gap, adding that joining OpenAI would allow them to continue their efforts to make artificial intelligence more accessible and useful across industries.

The Convogo acqui-hire marks OpenAI’s ninth acquisition in the past year, according to data from PitchBook. In most of these deals, products were either integrated into OpenAI’s ecosystem, as seen with Sky, an AI interface for Mac, and product testing firm Statsig, or shut down entirely as teams transitioned to OpenAI, including in the cases of Roi, Context.ai and Crossing Minds.

The Convogo deal also underscores OpenAI’s growing use of mergers and acquisitions as a means of accelerating talent and capability development, mirroring strategies adopted by its competitors. The primary exception is OpenAI’s acquisition of Jonny Ive’s io Products, which continues to pursue its own product roadmap as the two companies collaborate on the development of AI hardware.