3 minute read | July.07.2023
DigitalOcean has acquired Paperspace, a cloud platform for building and scaling AI applications, for $111 million in cash. The acquisition promises to help customers “more easily test, develop and deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications,” DigitalOcean said.
Orrick represented Paperspace in its acquisition and has advised the company since 2018.
Based in New York, Paperspace offers a cloud platform for building and scaling AI applications. Paperspace customer use-cases include deploying LLMs, fine-tuning Foundation Models, building the next ChatGPT, harnessing generative media and more.
DigitalOcean offers cloud-hosting services for small and medium-sized businesses and startups.
“DigitalOcean is a company that we have admired for a long time,” Paperspace said in a statement. “Many folks know DigitalOcean as the developer-first cloud that stands for simplicity, transparency, and the pursuit of making complex technologies accessible to all. Even in the early days of Paperspace we admired DigitalOcean for their values and commitment to simplicity in a world where technology moves quickly. For many folks, DigitalOcean is the first place they go to learn a new technology or take an idea and start making it a reality.”
The acquisition and integration of Paperspace’s technology into DigitalOcean’s platform will enable customers “to more easily test, develop and deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) applications, augment and enhance existing AI/ML applications and utilize GPUs (graphics processing units ) in ways that have predominantly been the domain of large enterprises,” DigitalOcean said.
“Together, Paperspace and DigitalOcean will offer a comprehensive suite of cloud CPU and GPU offerings, including advanced networking, databases, storage, and application hosting, as well as documentation, tutorials, and support,” Paperspace said.
"DigitalOcean is renowned for simplifying complex cloud technologies and making them more accessible to developers and business alike,” Dillon Erb, co-founder and CEO of Paperspace, said in a news release. “We are thrilled to join forces with DigitalOcean, as we believe there is no better company to unlock the endless possibilities of AI/Ml for developers and businesses alike."
Paperspace will remain as a standalone business unit within DigitalOcean. In the near term, Paperspace customers will see no immediate changes to their services.
The Orrick team that advised Paperspace includes Josh Pollick, Justin Yi, Samantha Caluori, Kyle Zhu, Maggie Hoffman, Marley Brison, Sojin Kim, Ericka Martinez, Andy Bloom, Jake Routhier, Mike Wiesner, Lauren Wall, Jennifer Criss, Daniel Kearney, Daniel Healow, Taylor Sullivan, SeoJung Park, Kimberly Loocke, Shannon Yavorsky, Nicholas Farnsworth, Bianca Ponziani, Jeanine P. McGuinness, Maria Sergeyeva, Craig Falls, Danielle Mangogna, Kristin Petersen, Gregory Hume and Debbie Abernathy.
The Paperspace transaction comes after Orrick advised clients in two other recent AI and machine learning deals: Orrick advised MosaicML in its $1.3 billion acquisition by Databricks and Casetext in its $650 million acquisition by Thomson Reuters – two of the 10 largest mergers announced in 2023 in AI and machine learning.
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