OpenAI announced yesterday that it’s acquiring Ona, a Berlin-based cloud startup that builds secure cloud environments for developers. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed, but the strategic significance is clear: Codex is supposed to make the leap from a minutes-tool to a days-agent.
What Ona Does
Ona has spent years helping over two million developers move their work from local machines into the cloud — in secure, reproducible environments. That’s exactly what OpenAI needs for Codex’s next phase.
Why This Matters
Right now, Codex can do impressive things — but it’s tied to the session. You start a task, and Codex works as long as you’re there. With Ona’s infrastructure, that’s set to change: Codex agents should be able to work autonomously for hours or even days, without you keeping your laptop open.
OpenAI describes the vision like this: Ona’s model lets agents operate inside an organization’s own cloud environment while OpenAI provides the intelligence and orchestration. This gives organizations greater control over their infrastructure, data, and security boundaries.
The Numbers
Codex is currently used by more than five million people per week — up 400% since the start of the year. After the acquisition closes, Ona’s employees will be embedded within the Codex team.
Context
This is a smart move by OpenAI. Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot — the AI coding tools market is fiercely competitive. The difference between a good coding assistant and a real coding agent lies precisely in the ability to work autonomously and persistently. With Ona, OpenAI isn’t just buying technology — it’s buying an infrastructure advantage.
For a German startup, by the way, this is a notable exit. Berlin delivers.
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