How MariaDB’s SPAC IPO Marks a New Era for Open‑Source Databases

MariaDB, a cloud‑native database company headquartered in Ireland and California, merged with the SPAC Angel Pond Holdings and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MRDB.

The merger was first announced in February; trading started on the 24th, with the stock opening above $11.5 before closing at $6.7 on its first day.

MariaDB traces its roots to MySQL’s original founder Michael Widenius, who left Oracle to create Monty Program AB and later MariaDB Corporation to commercialize the MariaDB fork.

The name MariaDB comes from Widenius’s daughter Maria, while MySQL was named after his older daughter.

Widenius spent 13 years building MariaDB, and the IPO marks a strategic milestone aimed at serving open‑source Linux workloads that do not require ultra‑large‑scale databases.

This signals that major hyperscale cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google may face competition from smaller‑scale data operators, with MariaDB positioning itself as a new ecosystem.

MariaDB’s SkySQL cloud offers open‑source relational databases for IoT, smartphones, 5G, and other modern technologies.

The company claims its platform, led by original MySQL developers, can handle any size workload and promises up to 90% cost savings when migrating from legacy databases.

Founder and CEO Michael Widenius described the IPO day as an exciting new chapter and a milestone for the cloud computing industry.

OpenOcean partner Patrik Backman expressed pride in supporting MariaDB’s journey and highlighted the firm’s mission to empower bold leaders in the data economy.

MariaDB raised at least $227.2 million before the IPO, including a recent $104 million Series D round, with investors such as Invicta Growth, European investment banks, ServiceNow’s CVC, Alibaba, Intel, GP Bullhound, and SmartFin Capital.

Widenius, who frequently visits China, notes the “35‑year‑old crisis” for Chinese programmers and advocates for developers to continue coding well into their later years, emphasizing the value of experienced senior engineers.