Cloudera acquires Verta to boost enterprise AI capabilities

Cloudera has announced a significant leap forward in its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts with the acquisition of the Verta Operational AI Platform. This strategic move is set to enhance Cloudera's AI capabilities and reinforce its commitment to delivering advanced AI solutions to its global customer base, including those in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ).

The acquisition comes as Australian businesses transition from merely experimenting with AI technologies to integrating them into their core operations for measurable business impacts. Companies such as Telstra are utilising AI to improve customer experience, BHP is employing AI for locating new mining deposits, and Woolworths store managers are using AI systems to optimise shelf stocking.

With this acquisition, Cloudera aims to speed up the AI adoption process, enabling its customers to operationalise AI more quickly and advance strategic initiatives that streamline operations and enhance revenue generation. The Verta team, led by its world-renowned AI experts, will join Cloudera's machine learning group and report directly to Chief Product Officer Dipto Chakravarty.

"The acquisition of Verta's AI Operational Platform strengthens our team and accelerates our operational AI capabilities," said Charles Sansbury, CEO of Cloudera. "We are committed to providing our customers with the necessary technologies to push their data and AI initiatives forward, and this acquisition is just the beginning of our strategic moves to expand our leadership in data and trusted enterprise AI."

Verta's hybrid and multi-cloud end-to-end AI platform will significantly bolster Cloudera's ability to meet the growing demand for AI solutions among its users worldwide. Verta, founded on research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by Dr. Manasi Vartak and further advanced with Dr. Conrado Miranda, has been a pioneer in model management, serving, and governance for both predictive and generative AI (GenAI). Verta's platform simplifies the creation, operationalisation, monitoring, security, and scaling of AI models across enterprises.

Verta's technology enables developers, irrespective of their machine learning expertise, to turn datasets into custom retrieval-augmented generation applications. This includes features like the genAI workbench, model catalogue, and AI governance tools, which will significantly enhance Cloudera's platform capabilities.

"Good data breeds good models, and the synergy between Verta and Cloudera's technologies is evident," said Dr. Manasi Vartak. "Cloudera manages more data than any other platform globally, making it the ideal partner to bring our vision to life. Together, we can unlock the potential of organisation-wide AI and enhance the user journey from data to actionable insights."

Cloudera prides itself on managing 25% of the world's data, positioning itself as the only true hybrid open data lakehouse that integrates analytics and AI with business data, both on-premises and across multiple clouds. This open data lakehouse approach provides the foundation for developing and deploying AI applications, such as chatbots, document summarisation, and code generation, while maintaining unified governance and security.

Jefferies LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to Cloudera during this transaction. As Cloudera continues to pave the way for data-driven innovations and enterprise AI, this acquisition marks a pivotal moment in its journey towards enabling businesses to transform data into strategic assets that drive performance and productivity.

This acquisition underlines Cloudera's dedication to transforming the AI landscape and delivering comprehensive solutions that meet the evolving needs of its customers. As the landscape for AI continues to grow, Cloudera's robust platforms and visionary leadership is poised to keep the company at the forefront of AI technology.