Snowflake Said to Discuss Buying AI Startup Reka AI for $1 Billion
Snowflake, the data storage and analytics company, is in talks with startup Reka AI over a possible acquisition, Bloomberg reported Thursday. A potential deal could value the AI upstart at over $1 billion as the publicly traded Snowflake looks to add more generative AI capabilities to its data offerings.
Reka AI, which develops large language models for a range of creative and enterprise tasks, was valued at $300 million post-money after its $50 million Series A round backed by DST Global and Snowflake’s venture arm.
Snowflake declined The Information’s request to comment, and Reka AI did not immediately respond.
Competition has been heating up between Snowflake and its privately-held rival Databricks. Databricks has been on an acquisition spree since last year, acquiring more than half a dozen companies, including generative AI startup MosaicML for $1.3 billion last year, according to data firm PitchBook.
In the last 18 months, Snowflake has made at least eight acquisitions, including the $185 million takeover of Neeva, the private search engine company founded by Sridhar Ramaswamy, who formerly led Google’s advertising division. Ramaswamy, originally Snowflake’s head of AI, became CEO in February, replacing Frank Slootman, who steered the startup to become a publicly traded company.