Databricks has set its sights on enhancing its offerings with the announcement of a planned acquisition of Neon, a prominent serverless Postgres provider, for a substantial billion.
Innovative AI Integration
Neon’s platform is tailored to support AI agents, which have become integral to contemporary development workflows. Recent statistics reveal that more than 80% of databases established on Neon are provisioned automatically by AI agents, showcasing a significant shift from traditional human-driven processes.
Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks, remarked, “The era of AI-native, agent-driven applications is reshaping what a database must do. By bringing Neon into Databricks, we’re giving developers a serverless Postgres that can keep up with agentic speed, pay-as-you-go economics, and the openness of the Postgres community.”
Rapid Provisioning and Scalability
Neon’s architecture facilitates rapid database spin-up, with Postgres instances being created in less than 500 milliseconds. This capability, combined with cost scalability and full compatibility with the open-source Postgres ecosystem, positions Neon as a formidable player in the cloud-native database landscape.
Founded in 2021 by Nikita Shamgunov, Heikki Linnakangas, and Stas Kelvich, Neon employs a unique approach that separates storage and compute, enabling instant provisioning, auto-scaling, and branching. This design empowers developers to swiftly create isolated environments for rapid testing and iteration.
Strategic Integration with Databricks
Databricks intends to weave Neon’s technology into its Data Intelligence Platform, effectively addressing bottlenecks associated with AI workloads. This acquisition is poised to provide developers with a serverless, scalable Postgres platform that is particularly well-suited for AI applications.
Shamgunov expressed enthusiasm about the acquisition, stating, “Four years ago, we set out to build the best Postgres for the cloud that was serverless, highly scalable, and open to everyone. With this acquisition, we plan to accelerate that mission with the support and resources of an AI giant.”
Community and Market Impact
Following the acquisition, Neon’s team will integrate into Databricks, continuing their commitment to supporting the existing community. This strategic move is anticipated to significantly impact the 0-billion-plus database market, which is currently undergoing considerable transformation due to advancements in AI.
In a similar vein, Databricks recently acquired Fennel, an engineering platform, to bolster customer capabilities in feature iteration and model performance enhancement. Additionally, last year, Databricks made headlines with its acquisition of Tabular, a data management startup, for billion, further solidifying its position in the evolving tech landscape.