Amazon Web Services acquires DuckLabs, the company behind the wildly popular DuckDB database

AWS has acquired DuckLabs, the company that built and maintains DuckDB, the open-source analytical database that has quietly become one of the most beloved tools in data engineering. The deal brings the Amsterdam-based team, co-founded by Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt, under Amazon’s cloud computing umbrella.

From research project to AWS acquisition

DuckDB started life as a research project at CWI, the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands. DuckDB v1.0 shipped in June 2024, a milestone that signaled production readiness. By April 2026, the team had also released DuckLake v1.0, expanding their ambitions well beyond the original database engine.

DuckLabs itself, originally called DuckDB Labs, rebranded on May 27, 2026, to reflect that broader scope. The company had grown to over 30 employees, all sustained through support contracts and prioritization agreements rather than traditional venture funding.

The relationship with AWS didn’t start with an acquisition offer. A collaboration kicked off in early 2025 that integrated DuckDB with AWS services including Amazon S3 and SageMaker Lakehouse. That partnership apparently went well enough that AWS decided to buy the whole operation.

The open-source question

DuckDB carries an MIT license, one of the most permissive open-source licenses available. Post-acquisition, DuckDB and its related projects will remain fully open source under the stewardship of the DuckDB Foundation, according to the announcement. That foundation structure is designed specifically to prevent a single corporate owner from pulling the rug on the community.

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