We are the team behind DuckDB and DuckLake
We design, build, and maintain the DuckDB engine — and help companies run it reliably in production through enterprise support, advisory, and engineering collaboration.
Mark Raasveldt and Hannes Mühleisen
Our story
DuckDB began as a research project by Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt at CWI in Amsterdam. They set out to build a simple, fast, embeddable analytical database that removes the complexity of traditional client–server systems while still offering powerful SQL and high-performance analytics.
What started as a research prototype quickly grew into a widely adopted open-source project used across data science, engineering, and analytics teams worldwide. DuckLabs was created to support this growth — providing a dedicated team to develop the engine and help companies use it effectively in production.
In August 2026, we announced that we are joining Amazon Web Services. DuckLabs will stay in Amsterdam and will keep focusing on the developing the DuckDB, DuckLake, and Quack projects, which will remain MIT-licensed for everyone.
Who we are
We are the core development team behind DuckDB, the in-process analytical database built for simplicity, portability, and speed. Based in Amsterdam, our team of more than 30 engineers and researchers maintains the open-source project, guides the architecture, designs new features, and stewards the long-term roadmap of DuckDB and DuckLake.
Our work spans all layers of the system: query planning, vectorized execution, storage formats, extensions, data lake integration, language bindings, and performance optimization.
Alongside our engineering work, we collaborate closely with the community and with the DuckDB Foundation — the independent non-profit that safeguards DuckDB’s intellectual property and ensures that DuckDB remains open-source under the MIT license in perpetuity.
We combine deep database systems expertise with a commitment to openness, clean design, and long-term maintainability.
Our values
Simplicity
DuckDB is designed to be simple to install, simple to use, and simple to understand. We carry that philosophy into everything we build.
Correctness
Analytical results must be right. We invest heavily in testing and verification.
Performance
We push the boundaries of what in-process analytics can do — in-memory and beyond.
Openness
DuckDB is open-source under the MIT license. We work transparently and in collaboration with the community.
Extensibility
We believe that a good system should be lean but also easy to extend. We provide a powerful extension mechanism.
Sustainable development
Enterprise collaborations support continuous, qualitative development of the open-source core.
Founders
Hannes Mühleisen
- Co-creator of DuckDB, Co-founder & CEO of DuckLabs
- Author of numerous publications in database systems and data management
Mark Raasveldt
- Co-creator of DuckDB, Co-founder & CTO of DuckLabs
- Database systems researcher and engineer
- Lead architect of DuckDB’s execution engine, SQL extensions, and internal systems