OpenAI has acquired Ona, a startup that builds secure, pre-configured cloud environments where AI agents can access the tools, systems, and context they need to work through tasks over extended periods. The acquisition slots directly into OpenAI’s push to make Codex capable of handling longer, multi-step work rather than quick one-off requests.
The infrastructure angle is what makes this deal interesting. AI coding assistants have generally been good at short, contained tasks: write this function, fix this bug, explain this error. Multi-step work that unfolds over hours or days requires something different. The agent needs a stable environment it can return to, with the right tools and context still in place. That is the gap Ona’s technology addresses, and folding it into Codex gives OpenAI a more complete answer for businesses that want AI agents handling real, ongoing work rather than isolated tasks.
OpenAI did not disclose the financial terms. Once the transaction closes under standard conditions, Ona’s employees will join OpenAI and become part of the Codex team. In a LinkedIn post, Ona CEO Johannes Landgraf described the move in personal terms, saying selling the company felt less like an ending and more like the mission had just gotten bigger.
The timing lines up with Codex’s rapid growth. The product now has more than 5 million weekly active users, up from 3 million in April. OpenAI has also been expanding Codex’s reach beyond software development, adding plugins for sales, investment banking, and equity investing roles. Knowledge workers now represent roughly one in five Codex users and are growing at more than triple the rate of the core developer base.
This acquisition fits a pattern. OpenAI picked up cybersecurity startup Promptfoo in March, healthcare technology company Torch for roughly $60 million in January, and Software Applications, the team behind the Sky interface for Mac, in an earlier deal. The largest of these remains the acquisition of Jony Ive’s device startup io, valued at more than $6 billion when it closed in May 2025.
The competitive backdrop matters here too. Anthropic’s Claude Code has driven significant growth for that company, and both OpenAI and Anthropic have filed confidential paperwork with the SEC as they consider public offerings.
