Announcing OpenAI Grove Cohort 2

Source: OpenAI Date: 2026-01-02 URL: https://openai.com/index/openai-grove

Summary

Announcement of the second cohort of OpenAI Grove — OpenAI’s startup accelerator or incubator program for AI-native companies. The Grove program provides accepted startups with compute credits, model access, mentorship from OpenAI teams, and go-to-market support. Cohort 2 signals the program’s continuation and likely expanded scope.

Implications

Ecosystem/platform thread. Grove is OpenAI’s answer to the YC/accelerator model — building an ecosystem of companies that are strategically dependent on OpenAI’s models from day one. Companies in the Grove ecosystem become reference customers, provide product feedback, and create an installed base that’s difficult to migrate off OpenAI when they scale. This is the same moat-building strategy Microsoft used with its startup programs. Watch which verticals Cohort 2 targets — it reveals where OpenAI sees the most important emerging use cases.