‘Now that Amazon has acquired us, European companies are finally taking us seriously’

DuckLabs faced a choice as demand for its data software surged: take investment and build a sales operation, or sell the Amsterdam start-up and hand sales to a larger company. CEO Hannes Mühleisen rejected the first option and chose Amazon.

The company, founded in 2021, has grown rapidly. Developers use its open-source software to organize and analyze large datasets, while paying customers including Nvidia and Monday.com receive tailored data-analysis tools. DuckLabs averages about three million downloads a day and ranks among the most visited websites in the Netherlands.

That growth also created a problem. With only 30 employees, DuckLabs could not handle the increasing number of increasingly specific requests from users. Mühleisen said outside investment would have shifted the company’s focus toward shareholder value and forced it to create a sales department. “We are programmers who would rather concentrate fully on technology,” he said.

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We are programmers who would rather concentrate fully on technology.

Mühleisen also questioned Europe’s dependence on American capital, while explaining why he sold to an American buyer. U.S. private-equity firms contacted DuckLabs soon after it gained momentum in 2021, while European companies showed interest months later. European offers, he said, roughly matched the company’s annual revenue and could not be taken seriously.

Amazon had already worked with DuckLabs. Companies often store data through Amazon but use rivals such as Snowflake and Databricks to analyze it. By buying DuckLabs, Amazon can offer analysis as well as storage. Mühleisen said the acquisition also means European companies may finally take the start-up seriously. “Americans think: something new, that could make me money,” he said.

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Americans think: something new, that could make me money.