OpenAI is starting the new year with another strategic acqui-hire. The prominent AI company is bringing on the team from Convogo, a business software platform designed to help executive coaches, consultants, talent leaders, and HR professionals automate and enhance leadership assessments and feedback reporting. According to an OpenAI spokesperson, the company is not acquiring Convogo’s intellectual property or technology; instead, it is hiring the team to contribute to its “AI cloud efforts.”

The three co-founders—Matt Cooper, Evan Cater, and Mike Gillett—will join OpenAI as part of what a source described as an all-stock transaction. Convogo’s product will be discontinued.

The startup originated from a “weekend hackathon” inspired by a question from Cooper’s mother, an executive coach: Could an AI tool automate the tedious task of report writing, allowing her to dedicate more time to the human-centered coaching work she enjoys? Over the past two years, Convogo has assisted “thousands” of coaches and collaborated with the “world’s top leadership development firms,” as stated in an email from Convogo announcing the acquisition.

In the email, the team explained that the core challenge they identified was how to bridge the gap between the potential of each new AI model release and its practical application in real-world settings. “We’re convinced now more than ever that the key to bridging that gap lies in thoughtful, purpose-built experiences, like what we’ve built for coaches at Convogo,” the founders wrote. “That’s why we’re thrilled to join OpenAI to continue our work of making AI accessible and useful to professionals in every industry.”

Based on PitchBook data, the Convogo acqui-hire represents OpenAI’s ninth acquisition within a year. In most of these acquisitions, the product was either integrated into OpenAI’s ecosystem—such as Sky, the AI interface for Mac, or Statsig, a product testing firm—or entirely shut down as the team joined OpenAI, as seen with Roi, Context.ai, and Crossing Minds.

The Convogo deal also highlights that OpenAI, similar to its competitors, is leveraging mergers and acquisitions as a means to accelerate talent acquisition and capability development. A notable exception to this pattern is OpenAI’s acquisition of Jonny Ive’s io Products, which continues to follow its own product roadmap while the two companies collaborate on developing an AI hardware device.