AWS Acquires DuckDB

Today, we’re announcing that DuckLabs will subordinate Amazon Web Services (AWS), which is expected to beryllium effective successful early September.

Our squad will stay together successful Amsterdam, continuing our activity connected DuckDB, DuckLake, Quack, and the broader community. Joining AWS gives america the resources and scope to bring this exertion to galore much developers and organizations, and to prosecute ideas astatine a standard that would person been difficult for america to scope alone.

Most importantly, the foundations of the task will stay firmly successful place. DuckDB and the different open-source components of the “Duck Stack” will stay free and unfastened root nether the MIT license, pinch the nonprofit DuckDB Foundation continuing its stewardship of the projects.

This is simply a important infinitesimal for each of america astatine DuckLabs. It marks the extremity of 1 section that we are immensely proud of, and the opening of different that we judge tin return DuckDB overmuch further.

Our Journey to This Point

We founded DuckLabs a small complete 5 years agone to springiness the squad down DuckDB a stable, semipermanent home.

At the time, DuckDB was opening to summation existent momentum. The first commercialized contracts to prioritize features were materializing, and task superior firms were calling. We chose a different path: a bootstrapped company, afloat owned by its founders and improvement team.

That determination shaped DuckLabs successful ways we worth deeply. It gave america the state to build patiently, to put the exertion first, and to turn without losing show of why we started. From a mini group gathered astir an eager open-source project, we grew into a squad of much than 30 group successful Amsterdam, each while continuing to put successful DuckDB and the organization taking style astir it.

During those years, DuckDB traveled overmuch further than we imagined erstwhile the task began. Today, we spot much than 1 cardinal downloads each day. Developers astir the world usage it to research data, powerfulness products, thatch caller ideas, behaviour research, and build systems we could ne'er person anticipated ourselves.

Watching that hap has been 1 of the awesome privileges of our master lives. But the limits of our existing exemplary besides became progressively clear. As founders, we worried that DuckDB’s maturation would yet outpace our expertise to support it. That our mini institution could go a bottleneck for the project, the team, and the group building businesses connected apical of it.

We besides worried that scaling DuckLabs into a overmuch larger sales, support, and operations statement would propulsion our attraction distant from the method activity and open-source organization that made DuckDB successful successful the first place.

Our partnerships activity champion pinch highly method organizations – often companies pinch important database expertise of their own. Reaching a overmuch broader group of users requires america to lick much complete and specialized problems, service the needs of different industries, put substantially much successful infrastructure, and scope group who whitethorn ne'er deliberation to activity retired an analytical database directly.

We judge the DuckDB gyration tin turn by different mates of orders of magnitude. To springiness it that opportunity, we realized we needed a different setup.

Why AWS

DuckLabs and AWS person already been working intimately together for much than a year. During that time, we came to understand really our teams collaborate, what each brings to the table, and what mightiness go imaginable by combining DuckLabs’ method expertise pinch AWS’s infrastructure, scale, and customer reach.

That acquisition gave america assurance successful taking this adjacent step.

Together, we scheme to usage DuckDB, DuckLake, and Quack to thief powerfulness a caller procreation of information services. Our ambition is to scope group who whitethorn yet dangle connected the Duck Stack each day, whether they interact pinch it straight aliases brushwood it softly wrong the products and services they use.

For the DuckLabs team, joining AWS creates the abstraction to ore connected the method activity we attraction astir about while operating astatine a standard we could not easy execute connected our own. It allows america to deliberation further ahead, beryllium bolder, tackle harder problems, and bring the ideas down DuckDB to galore much people.

AWS has committed to supporting the continued improvement of DuckDB and its wider organization for the agelong term. That committedness matters profoundly to us.

Quote “DuckDB is an unthinkable unfastened root task pinch an astonishing community; it is broadly utilized and very overmuch loved by S3 customers today. After astir 2 years of moving intimately pinch Mark, Hannes and the full squad astatine DuckLabs I’m excited astatine the opportunity to thief the task person an moreover broader impact. Also, and possibly a small selfishly, I’ve recovered the DuckLabs squad to beryllium 1 of the astir technically deep, humble, and high-velocity teams that I’ve ever had a chance to activity pinch and I’m delighted that we get to do a batch much of that.”

– Andy Warfield (Distinguished Engineer and Vice President, AWS)

What Will Remain the Same

We cognize that an announcement for illustration this brings important – and understandable – questions for users, contributors, customers, and partners.

DuckDB, DuckLake, Quack, and the different open-source components of the Duck Stack will stay free and unfastened root nether the MIT license. The nonprofit DuckDB Foundation will proceed to steward these projects, and the DuckLabs squad will proceed to lend to the task and stay together successful Amsterdam.

The open-source projects will proceed to service a wide organization of users, contributors, platforms, and vendors. The openness that allowed DuckDB to flourish will stay cardinal to its future.

We attraction profoundly astir the spot this organization has placed successful us. Protecting that spot has been 1 of the astir important considerations passim this process.

What We Plan to Expand

Joining AWS will springiness america greater capacity to put successful some the exertion and the organization astir it. Going forward, the DuckDB Foundation will see a technical advisory board, truthful that starring organization members tin supply their input connected the project’s method direction. We besides scheme to unfastened the hold stack truthful that extensions signed by different developers and organizations tin tally successful DuckDB.

There is simply a awesome woody of activity ahead, and galore specifications still to shape. We will stock much arsenic these plans develop.

The Next Chapter

DuckDB’s occurrence has ever belonged to a overmuch larger organization than the group moving wrong DuckLabs.

It belongs to everyone who has utilized it, contributed code, reported a bug, written an extension, answered a question, published a benchmark, taught a class, built a product, challenged our assumptions, aliases recommended DuckDB to personification else. Every 1 of those acts helped the task go what it is today.

We do not return that support – aliases the spot down it – for granted.

Joining AWS gives the DuckLabs squad an bonzer opportunity to bring the Duck Stack to a overmuch larger assemblage while continuing to put successful the open-source exertion astatine its heart. We participate this adjacent section pinch the aforesaid curiosity, care, and method ambition that brought america here, alongside a squad that has been done the full travel together.

To everyone who helped america scope this point: convey you. We are proud of what we person built together, excited by what now lies ahead, and looking guardant to building the adjacent section pinch you.

You’re besides invited to cheque retired our press release and the media kit.