MotherDuck

Elroy Fernandes / Startup Fortune Aug 27

AWS to Acquire DuckLabs; DuckDB Founders Join AWS While Project Remains MIT-Licensed (Deal Effective Early Sept. 2026)

AWS has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DuckLabs, the Amsterdam company behind the open-source DuckDB, with founders Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt joining AWS and retaining DuckDB's technical leadership; the deal, expected to close in early September 2026, keeps DuckDB MIT-licensed under the independent DuckDB Foundation and has sparked debate about potential open-source capture.

Todd Bishop / GeekWire Aug 26

Amazon to acquire DuckLabs; DuckDB creators join AWS while DuckDB stays open-source under a foundation

Amazon will acquire DuckLabs, the Amsterdam team behind the open-source DuckDB database, with DuckDB remaining free under the DuckDB Foundation while DuckLabs employees (including co‑founders Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt) join AWS. Financial terms were not disclosed; Amazon expects the deal to close shortly and DuckLabs to become part of AWS in early September as Amazon pushes to make S3 a hub for direct data analysis.

Ken Yeung / GeekWire Apr 3

Convoy Co-founder Dan Lewis Shares Startup Culture and Leadership Lessons at 2026 Seattle AI Summit

Dan Lewis, Convoy co-founder and Microsoft VP, shared lessons from building the now-shuttered unicorn startup at the 2026 Seattle AI Startup Summit, emphasizing deliberate culture shaping, codifying values based on proven practices, and ensuring employees understand the 'why' behind decisions. His insights aim to help entrepreneurs create strong startups by fostering ownership and intentional culture design.

Taylor Soper / GeekWire Mar 10

Tim Chen’s Essence VC Raises New $7 Million Fund to Boost Infrastructure Startup Investments

Essence VC, led by Tim Chen, is raising a new $7 million fund to lead larger pre-seed rounds and have greater investment flexibility, focusing on infrastructure startups. This fund is separate from their previous $41 million fund raised last year.

Taylor Soper / GeekWire Oct 24, 2025

Tim Chen Raises $41 Million for Fourth Fund at Essence VC, Emerging as a Leading Solo Investor Backing Infrastructure Startups

Tim Chen, initially rejected by Seattle venture capital firms for being 'too nerdy,' launched his own firm, Essence VC, which has grown to raise $41 million for its fourth fund and gained a strong reputation backing infrastructure startups. His technical background and experience as a software engineer have made him a sought-after solo investor, with notable portfolio successes including the $2.2 billion acquisition of Tabular by Databricks.

Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire Apr 30, 2024

2024 GeekWire Awards on May 9 in Seattle to Honor Over 50 Pacific Northwest Tech Innovators

The 2024 GeekWire Awards event will be held on May 9 in Seattle to honor top innovators and leaders in tech from the Pacific Northwest, with over 50 finalists across multiple categories. Tickets are limited and the ceremony features awards, a dinner, and entertainment.

Lisa Stiffler / GeekWire Dec 18, 2023

Seattle Startup MotherDuck Hires Former Google Leaders Frances Perry and Margaret Lawrence Rosas; Humanly Adds VP of Growth Pallavi Sinha

Seattle startup MotherDuck hired Frances Perry, a former Google engineering director, as engineering manager, and Margaret Lawrence Rosas, former Looker and Google executive, as head of customer success. Additionally, Pallavi Sinha joined Seattle startup Humanly as vice president of growth.

Nate Bek / GeekWire Sep 20, 2023

Seattle Startup MotherDuck Raises $52.5M Series B at $400M Valuation to Expand DuckDB-Based Analytics Platform

MotherDuck, a Seattle-based analytics startup founded by former Google engineer Jordan Tigani, raised $52.5 million in a Series B round at a $400 million valuation to advance its collaborative serverless analytics platform built on DuckDB. The funding follows prior rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz and Redpoint Ventures and aims to offer a simpler, cost-effective SQL analytics solution for businesses without petabyte-scale data.

Nate Bek / GeekWire Jun 29, 2023

Seattle Venture Firm Essence VC Raises $27M to Fund Early-Stage Tech Infrastructure Startups

Seattle-based venture capital firm Essence VC, led by managing partner Timothy Chen, has raised $27 million for its third fund to invest in early-stage startups focused on software development tools, data infrastructure, and AI. The firm targets pre-product startups and has made seven investments since December, including in Jasper AI and MotherDuck.

Coral Garnick / Madrona Apr 20, 2023

MotherDuck’s Jordan Tigani and DuckDB’s Hannes Mühleisen describe partnering to commercialize DuckDB into MotherDuck

This article presents a conversation with DuckDB creator Hannes Mühleisen and MotherDuck founder Jordan Tigani about their partnership that commercializes the DuckDB open-source project into a serverless analytics company, MotherDuck. It traces their meeting, collaboration strategy, and how they balance building a scalable business while supporting the open-source community.

Book Recommendations for Founders Featured Apr 20, 2023

MotherDuck's Jordan Tigani and DuckDB's Hannes Mühleisen on partnerships and commercializing open-source projects

This week, Madrona Partner Jon Turow brings us a story about a great partnership forming between two people, who had never even met, when they each find themselves on a mission to focus on what it is they do best. You'll hear from Hannes Mühleisen, creator of the DuckDB open-source project, and Jordan Tigani, the database leader who saw an opportunity to commercialize it, about the lightning-bolt moment that led to one of them flying halfway around the world to meet — how does this happen and how do they set their partnership up to be the foundation of a…

30 min

Nate Bek / GeekWire Nov 15, 2022

Seattle Startup MotherDuck Launches Serverless Analytics Platform With $47.5M Funding Led by Andreessen Horowitz

Seattle-based startup MotherDuck, founded by Jordan Tigani, unveiled its serverless data analytics platform built on DuckDB and announced $47.5 million in funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company aims to enable analysts to query data across multiple sources and plans a public beta release in March 2023.