AWS buys DuckLabs, the people behind the popular in-process OLAP database
Cloud giant expresses love for DuckDB by buying its main support and development company
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has acquired DuckLabs, the company behind the popular in-process OLAP database, DuckDB. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. DuckLabs, founded by the authors of the DuckDB open-source database, will now be part of AWS. AWS stated that DuckDB and its related projects will remain free and open source under their MIT licenses, with the nonprofit DuckDB Foundation continuing to guide them.
Developed in C++, DuckDB is embedded within a host process, eliminating the need for a separate DBMS server software. The database allows for direct query execution on data within Python libraries like Pandas without importing or copying data. DuckDB was created by academics at Amsterdam's Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica and went public in 2022.
It reached its 1.0 release in 2024 and has gained popularity among developers and analytics users. AWS has shown interest in DuckDB since 2023, expressing excitement about the DuckLake announcement. The two companies have already collaborated on integrating S3 Tables with DuckDB. Following the merger, DuckLabs CEO Hannes Mühleisen anticipates a larger role for the independent DuckDB Foundation in ensuring no conflicts of interest with other tech giants.
The team behind DuckDB will remain in Amsterdam. AWS's AWS VP and distinguished engineer, Andy Warfield, stated that DuckDB is an impressive open-source project with a strong community and expressed enthusiasm about expanding its impact through the DuckDB Foundation.
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