MariaDB, a struggling database company, may be acquired privately for $37 million.

January 10, 2025February 6, 2025 EquityExplained

MariaDB, the open-source relational database management system (RDBMS), is once again at the center of a potential takeover bid. The company behind MariaDB has confirmed that it has received an unsolicited non-binding indicative proposal from California-based K1 Investment Management.

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The Proposal and Its Significance

K1’s proposal, which was quietly revealed on Friday, includes buying all MariaDB stock at a price of $0.55 per share. This would amount to roughly $37 million based on the company’s February 5 closing valuation. However, it is essential to note that this offer is non-binding and may change depending on how negotiations progress in the coming weeks.

The proposal comes as MariaDB faces significant changes and upheaval within the company. In recent months, a new CEO has taken over, and a substantial downsizing effort was undertaken by offloading both its database-as-a-service and geospatial businesses.

A Brief History of MariaDB

MariaDB emerged as a fork of MySQL 15 years ago, after MySQL’s project creators became concerned about its independence in the wake of a series of billion-dollar acquisitions that led Oracle to effectively own MySQL in 2009. As a result, MariaDB was considered a ‘drop-in’ replacement for those seeking a fully open-source MySQL alternative and has been used by big-name companies for storing and manipulating data across their applications.

The Commercial Entity Behind MariaDB

Over the years, the commercial entity behind MariaDB raised roughly $230 million in venture funding to develop premium features and services on top of the core project. Eventually, it went public in December 2022 via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). However, as with most SPAC-based IPOs, MariaDB’s flotation has been far from a success story.

Recent Developments

The recent major sponsorship deal between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the community-driven MariaDB project should help ensure that the lights stay on at the community-driven MariaDB incarnation. This partnership may also have implications for the potential takeover bid by K1 Investment Management.