How MariaDB’s SPAC Merger Is Shaping the Future of Open‑Source Databases

MySQL Founder’s Spin‑off: MariaDB

In February, open‑source database vendor MariaDB raised $104 million in a Series D round and announced a SPAC merger with Angel Pond Holdings to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MRDB.

Founded 13 years ago by MySQL creator Michael "Monty" Widenius, MariaDB emerged in 2009 as an open‑source fork of MySQL after Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, which had previously bought MySQL.

Because MariaDB derives from MySQL, it remains highly compatible; most MySQL applications can switch to MariaDB without changes, and its development pace now exceeds Oracle’s MySQL.

Major Linux distributions such as Red Hat, as well as companies like Apple, Wikipedia, and Google, have adopted MariaDB as an open‑source alternative to MySQL.

MariaDB’s Commercialization Journey

In 2014 the trademark moved from the MariaDB Foundation to a commercial entity, leading to two paid offerings:

Enterprise: combines open‑source core with enterprise‑grade security, reliability, backup, clustering, and auditing features.

SkySQL: a cloud‑native service built on Kubernetes, using Xpand and MaxScale to deliver high scalability, strong availability, and ACID‑compliant transactions.

The success of other open‑source companies such as Confluent, GitLab, and HashiCorp in going public underscores a broader IPO wave for open‑source businesses, of which MariaDB is a part.

MariaDB’s New Chapter on the NYSE

Prior to the SPAC deal, MariaDB had raised $227.2 million and, with the $104 million Series D, was valued at roughly $672 million. However, on debut the stock opened at $11.55, valuing the company at $368 million, well below expectations.

CEO Michael Howard dismissed concerns, noting that tech stocks faced broad pressure and MariaDB’s performance remained solid.

Howard also described the listing as “an exciting day that marks a new chapter for MariaDB and a milestone for the cloud‑computing industry.”

Board chair Theodore T. Wang expressed confidence that MariaDB’s differentiated products and extensive database expertise will support the surge in cloud database migrations.

Founder and CTO Monty emphasized a customer‑first philosophy, stating that MariaDB will continue to evolve based on client needs rather than attempting to predict the future.