Vijaye Raji: Who is the Indian-origin Founder that Sold Startup to OpenAI?
Raji sold Stasig for $1.1 billion while he joined OpenAI as CTO.
OpenAI has acquired Statsig, a Seattle-based product-testing startup, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $1.1 billion, based on its current $300 billion valuation.
As part of the deal, Vijaye Raji, the Indian-origin founder and CEO of Statsig, will join OpenAI as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Applications, reporting to Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications.
OpenAI emphasized that Raji will lead product engineering for flagship services such as ChatGPT and Codex, with a mandate spanning core systems, infrastructure, and product integrity.
In his announcement on X, Raji expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition, writing: “Once the acquisition is finalized, Statsig employees will become OpenAI employees. The company will continue operating independently and serving our customers.”
Who Is Vijaye Raji?
Vijaye Raji is the Seattle-based founder of Statsig, which OpenAI has described as “one of the most trusted experimentation platforms in the industry”.
He graduated from Pondicherry University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Soon after, he began his career at Microsoft, where he spent nearly a decade working on products like Windows Application Framework, SQL Server Modeling Language/Runtime, and Visual Studio Editor.
In 2011, Raji joined Facebook (now Meta). Over the next ten years, he climbed the corporate ladder, eventually becoming VP and Head of Gaming, Head of Facebook Seattle, and VP of Entertainment.
Four and a half years ago, he launched Statsig, building it into a platform that helps companies make faster, data-driven product decisions.
Vijaye Raji on OpenAI Acquisition
Raji called the move an “extraordinary opportunity”. “Joining OpenAI as CTO of Applications is an extraordinary opportunity to bring my experience scaling consumer and enterprise products to a mission I deeply believe in: advancing AI in ways that are capable of solving hard problems, reliable, and truly beneficial to people everywhere.”
He added: “The journey with Statsig has been deeply gratifying, leading me to this moment and giving me conviction that we will continue helping teams ship better software every day.”
