Great Scott! Databricks Drops a Galleon on Neon: A Database Deal That's Positively Lumos!

Another One! Databricks' Acquisition Spree Continues

Honestly you'd think Databricks was Gringotts the way they're tossing around galleons! They've just snapped up Neon a cloud based database software vendor for a billion dollars! A billion! Last year it was MosaicML for a measly 1.3 billion and Tabular for over a billion. It seems like they're collecting companies like I collect books – obsessively and with a deep seated need to know everything about them. I swear if I didn't know better I'd say they were trying to build a Philosopher's Stone of data analytics.

Neon Lights Up the Data Scene

Apparently Neon is rather popular boasting over 18,000 customers including OpenAI Adobe and even Boston Consulting Group. Blimey that's quite the clientele! They're open source and a favoured alternative to Amazon Web Services’ Aurora Postgres database service. Good for them! It's always heartening to see innovation in the face of established giants. It reminds me of the DA a small group challenging a powerful regime. Never underestimate the power of a dedicated team armed with the right spells... or in this case code.

PostgreSQL: The Database That Refuses to Die

This PostgreSQL business has been around since the 1980s. One might call it the Nearly Headless Nick of databases it just wont move on to the next stage! Other companies like Supabase are also based on it as are so called “vibe coding” tools. Even Google and Microsoft have their own versions for running it. It seems this old language has some staying power.

Databricks: From Data Cleaning to AI Dreams

Databricks sells software that helps with cleaning up data executing queries and running AI models. Honestly it sounds like a potions class gone digital! They're essentially brewing the perfect concoction of data insights. And with Microsoft Snowflake and Databricks all investing in Neon it's clear they see something special. It's like Slughorn and his Slug Club all vying for the next star pupil. Only this time the pupil is a database.

The Wizard Behind the Curtain: Nikita Shamgunov

Neon's co founder and CEO Nikita Shamgunov is apparently a former Meta and Microsoft engineer. After Meta he ran SingleStore. Sounds like a very ambitious and accomplished fellow! Someone who’s definitely got the brains. He reminds me a bit of Tom Riddle only hopefully without the whole Dark Lord thing. It's always interesting to see where these tech wizards come from.

The Bottom Line: A Billion Dollar Gamble?

Neon charges based on the amount of computing and storage each customer uses. They were founded in 2021 and have 130 employees. Databricks valued at a staggering $62 billion in December clearly sees potential. This acquisition is a testament to their ambition. Now if only I could get them to invest in a magical self updating library! A girl can dream can’t she?