Strategic investment aims to accelerate
MariaDB's mission to deliver innovative, scalable database
solutions with new executive leadership to drive the next phase of
growth
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. and
MILPITAS, Calif., and DUBLIN, Sept. 10,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- K1 Investment Management, LLC
("K1"), one of the largest investors in small-cap enterprise
software companies, today announced the completion of its tender
offer to acquire 100 percent of the issued ordinary shares of
MariaDB plc (NYSE: MRDB) ("MariaDB"), a leader in enterprise
database solutions. This strategic investment positions MariaDB to
further expand its presence in the enterprise market and continue
delivering innovative, scalable solutions globally.
MariaDB, headquartered in Silicon Valley and Dublin, Ireland, serves nearly 700 active
customers across industries including banking, telecommunications,
government, healthcare and e-commerce. Notable clients include
Deutsche Bank, Nokia, RedHat, Samsung and ServiceNow,
alongside major public sector entities including the U.S.
Department of Defense, and across multiple Intelligence and Federal
Civilian agencies. Known for its innovation, scalability and
dependability, MariaDB database products power mission-critical
applications through its transactional, analytical and mixed
workloads.
"To run our strategic risk platform at Deutsche Bank, we needed
a database that was reliable and performant while handling a
massive amount of data. That's why we turned to MariaDB," said
Liang Ma, Director Core Strats at
Deutsche Bank. "With MariaDB Enterprise Server, we have a database
that delivers the stability we need at a fraction of the cost of
proprietary alternatives."
MariaDB also announced the appointment of Rohit de Souza as CEO. Rohit brings considerable
leadership experience from his roles at Actian and Micro Focus,
where he led global organizations driving growth and
transformation. Paul O'Brien, former
CEO of MariaDB, will remain involved with the company as an
advisor.
"We are thrilled to welcome MariaDB to the K1 portfolio and to
have Rohit leading the company into its next phase of growth," said
Sujit Banerjee, Managing Director of
K1 Operations, LLC. "Together, we aim to accelerate product
innovation and continue MariaDB's mission of delivering
high-quality, enterprise-grade solutions to meet the growing
demands of the market."
MariaDB continues to innovate with upcoming product releases,
including the launch of vector search in MariaDB Server and a
Kubernetes (K8s) Operator, catering to AI and cloud-native trends.
These advancements enable enterprises to build AI-driven
applications and deploy scalable solutions, including advanced
recommendations, image-based search and intuitive chat bots that
leverage large language models (LLMs) and data analysis tools, all
while seeking to ensure data reliability at enterprise
scale.
"With K1's support, we are poised to expand our capabilities and
continue delivering the innovative database solutions our customers
rely on," said Rohit de Souza, CEO
at MariaDB. "This partnership allows us to further product
innovation, advancing our ability to support new workloads driven
by AI and the cloud. We remain focused on making it easier for
customers to transition from costly alternatives and meet the
rapidly growing demands for AI and cloud-based solutions."
"As we look to the future, with new leadership and the
partnership of K1, I have never been more confident in the future
of MariaDB. It has been my pleasure to serve MariaDB as CEO and I
look forward to supporting Rohit as he transitions into the
business," said Paul O'Brien, former
CEO of MariaDB.
MariaDB is the latest transaction announced by K1, following the
strategic growth investment in Board Intelligence and the sale of
GoCanvas to Nemetschek Group (FRA:NEM). This marks K1's third
take-private transaction following Elmo (ASX: ELO), a leading
provider of cloud-based human capital management solutions, and
Attraqt (LON: ATQT), a pioneer in AI-driven search and
merchandising solutions for online retailers.
Lazard Frères & Co. LLC. served as financial advisor to K1.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and A&L Goodbody LLP served as legal
advisors to K1. Baker Botts LLP and Matheson LLP served as legal
advisors to MariaDB.
About MariaDB
MariaDB seeks to eliminate the
constraints and complexity of proprietary databases, enabling
organizations to reinvest in what matters most – rapidly developing
innovative, customer-facing applications. Enterprises can depend on
a single complete database for all their needs, that can be
deployed in minutes for transactional, analytical or hybrid use
cases. Trusted by organizations such as Deutsche Bank, DBS Bank,
Red Hat, ServiceNow and Samsung – MariaDB delivers customer value
without the financial burden of legacy database providers. For more
information, please visit mariadb.com.
About K1
K1 is one of the largest investors in
small-cap enterprise software companies. Headquartered in
Manhattan Beach, California, K1
partners with strong management teams of high-growth software
businesses, utilizing operationally focused growth strategies to
rapidly scale portfolio companies. Dedicated to transforming
industries and driving productivity, K1 has collaborated with over
240 enterprise software companies since inception.
K1's exclusive focus, driven by its single team, single office,
and single fund strategy, has resulted in realizations for many of
its portfolio companies. Examples include Apttus (sold to
Thoma Bravo), Buildium (sold to
RealPage, NASDAQ: RP), Certent (sold to insightsoftware), Checkmarx
(sold to Insight Partners and Hellman & Friedman), Clarizen
(sold to Planview), FMG Suite (sold to Aurora Capital Partners),
GoCanvas (sold to Nemetschek Group, FRA: NEM), Granicus (sold to
Vista Equity Partners and Harvest Partners), Inthinc (sold to
Orbcomm, NASDAQ: ORBC), Litera (sold to Hg Capital), Rave Mobile
Safety (sold to TCV; now owned by Motorola Solutions, NYSE: MSI),
TeamDynamix (sold to Level Equity), Unified (now owned by
iHeartMedia), WorkForce Software (now owned by Insight Partners and
Elliott Investment Management), and Zapproved (sold to
Exterro).
For more information, visit k1.com and follow K1 Investment
Management on LinkedIn.
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