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AWS Acquires DuckLabs

ducklabs.com

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Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#41
post #25

Seems like a good time to recommend Apache Datafusion. It's designed to be a library, but works pretty well standalone as well. There's a CLI version, but also Python and Java bindings, as well as a Rust library, of course. From my own experience I can say it integrates far better into your Rust app than DuckDB does. Well over 100 monthly contributors, too.

Came here to post the same thing. DataFusion is fantastic.

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#42
post #8

I'm glad that DuckDB has a foundation in place and hope it is resilient enough to push the DB forward when the time comes. Out of all the big orgs, Amazon is probably the one that has the least regard for keeping technically interesting projects alive, and the certainly will bulldoze it for some dumb reason when the next re-org comes.

Surely they are better than Google in this regard.

I feel like google do the most innovative projects of all the big companies.

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#44

What's the relationship between MotherDuck ( https://motherduck.com ) and DuckLabs?

Hey, MotherDucker here! We've been working closely with the DuckLabs team since day one, and the collaboration will continue! You can read more here: https://motherduck.com/blog/duckdb-amazon/

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#45
https://duckdb.org/roadmap

Current Google cache of this page states:

> "The DuckDB project is governed by the non-profit DuckDB Foundation . The Foundation and DuckLabs are not funded by external investors (e.g., venture capital)."

But "(Last updated: Aug 2026)" and I was not able to find this text anymore.

I wonder if they took vc money after all. I guess not, but still, it seem like to be difficult to live as an independent open source company. Getting a big co as a parent/sponsor is probably the next best thing.

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#46

I wasn't expecting this, and I am pleasantly surprised. I think AWS has been a bad player in the data space and very much behind all the other warehouse providers for many years now. This could lead into interesting integrations of DuckDB on top of all the data that lives in S3 and provide a leaner, faster and a more modern alternative to Athena.

This would be my bet and hope as well.

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#47
post #8

I'm glad that DuckDB has a foundation in place and hope it is resilient enough to push the DB forward when the time comes. Out of all the big orgs, Amazon is probably the one that has the least regard for keeping technically interesting projects alive, and the certainly will bulldoze it for some dumb reason when the next re-org comes.

Yup, they are very serious about DynamoDB and it is a very good product. Wish they released more information about it, though.

https://www.amazon.science/publications/dynamo-amazons-highl...

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#48

Congrats to the founders on their new generational wealth, but also what a shame.

Very much doubt it’s generational wealth. I’m not sure how much people think open source companies are worth, but the path to VC-scale profitability is incredibly rare.

My guess is that Amazon wants official hosted versions and doesn’t want to go through something like the Redis fiasco with licensing. In that case, they ended up having to support their own development anyway (with Valkey), so they might as well just buy the team.

DuckDB team probably gets a nice package and pay bump, but it’s really unlikely they’re getting hundreds of millions from this.

Re: AWS Acquires DuckLabs

#49
DuckLabs does services and support around DuckDB.

"We also worried that scaling DuckLabs into a much larger sales, support, and operations organization would pull our attention away from the technical work and open-source community that made DuckDB successful in the first place."

Given AWS's services arm seems like a good play for a team. Congrats!

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