AWS acquires DuckLabs, the team behind the in-process OLAP engine DuckDB

Amazon Web Services announced the purchase of DuckLabs, the firm that provides support and drives development for the open-source DuckDB analytical database. Financial terms were not disclosed, and AWS affirmed that DuckDB and its extensions will remain free under the MIT license, with the nonprofit DuckDB Foundation continuing to guide the project. DuckDB, an embedded C++ OLAP engine originating from the Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica research centre in Amsterdam, has become a favorite for integrating directly with tools like Pandas and for powering the DuckLake lakehouse architecture.

AWS has already worked with DuckLabs on S3 Tables, and senior AWS engineer Andy Warfield expressed enthusiasm for the technology. CEO Hannes Mühleisen indicated that the foundation, led by himself and Mark Raasveldt, will play a larger role in governance to keep the project independent. The DuckLabs staff will stay based in Amsterdam after the deal.