MotherDuck Establishes European Headquarters in the Netherlands
The U.S.-based company solidifies its presence in the Dutch tech ecosystem to collaborate and develop innovative data solutions
Seattle-based MotherDuck, a leading cloud data company, is expanding to the Netherlands with its new European headquarters in Amsterdam. By creating a subsidiary in the Netherlands, an ideal location for international headquarters, MotherDuck is well-positioned to bring its innovative data solutions to the European market. This strategic move enables MotherDuck to strengthen its ongoing collaboration with Dutch company DuckDB Labs and reach more potential partners in the Netherlands’ tech ecosystem to address challenges in data management and analytics.
An academic-industry partnership bridging U.S. and Dutch innovation
MotherDuck’s decision to expand to the Netherlands is influenced by its existing ties with the country’s highly connected network of industry leaders and research institutes. The company’s technology is founded on the open-source database management system DuckDB, which was created in 2019 by Prof. Dr. Hannes Mühleisen and Dr. Mark Raasveldt of the Database Architectures (DA) research group at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), a Dutch national research institute for mathematics and computer science. DuckDB Labs was then formed as a spin-off from CWI to manage DuckDB.
In early 2022, DuckDB caught the attention of Jordan Tigani, who envisioned a cloud service on top of DuckDB that could help users manage increasing data sizes on their laptops, as well as complex datasets shared within teams. Tigani assembled a team of industry veterans to launch – or hatch – MotherDuck that same year in the U.S., with support from DuckDB Labs and $47.5 million in venture capital funding. MotherDuck and DuckDB Labs are now proceeding with a long-term partnership to build a modern serverless cloud analytics platform based on DuckDB, thereby expanding and enriching the DuckDB ecosystem.
Along with DuckDB, CWI has also produced groundbreaking innovations including the programming language Python. Prof. Peter Boncz, the head of the DA group at CWI, works closely with MotherDuck as a researcher, co-authoring papers and hosting interns who have contributed to the company’s core technologies. The close relationship between MotherDuck, DuckDB Labs and CWI exemplifies the unique collaborative environment that attracts so many global innovators to the Dutch ecosystem.
Drawing from the Netherlands’ tech talent and digital infrastructure
In addition to its strong academic and industry partnerships, the Netherlands is known for its skilled talent pool. The Dutch capital attracts talent from across Europe and is home to a wealth of computer scientists working on databases and data-related technologies at large international companies such as Elastic and Databricks – firms that previously employed two of MotherDuck’s founders. The ability to access local engineers and the wider Dutch tech ecosystem played a key factor in MotherDuck’s decision to set up an official location in the Netherlands, as the company seeks to hire more employees for its European operations.
The Netherlands also boasts world-class digital infrastructure, with unparalleled connectivity. The country offers one of the fastest internet networks in Europe and is home to the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) – one of the largest internet exchanges globally. These capabilities ensure low latency and reliable data transfer, supporting MotherDuck’s need for seamless cloud operations.
About MotherDuck
Founded in 2022, MotherDuck is a data technology company specializing in scaling data systems into the cloud. Its platform enables businesses to efficiently process large volumes of data without the need for extensive infrastructure, leveraging DuckDB, a technology developed in collaboration with Dutch researchers. With its new headquarters in the Netherlands, MotherDuck is well-equipped to provide innovative solutions that make data operations accessible for businesses.
Source: MotherDuck
31 October 2024