MariaDB Gets £6.35m Funding, Appoints New CEO, CTO

Open source database MariaDB has raised an additional $9 million (£6.35m) and appointed a new CEO and CTO as it seeks to accelerate sales and develop its technology.

The money brings Finnish MariaDB’s total funding in this round to $40 million (£28.2m). Major investors include Intel California Technology Ventures.

Formerly known as SkySQL, the relational database software startup also announced the appointment of Oracle veteran Michael Howard as CEO.

MariaDB funding

“Michael’s proven leadership and deep operational and technology expertise will enable MariaDB to extend its position in the open source database market,” said Scott Raskin, independent director on the MariaDB Board. The American appointment will likely help drive MariaDB’s expansion efforts in the US.

The man who actually created MySQL and MariaDB itself, Michael ‘Monty’ Widenius, has been appointed CTO. Widenius is well known for advocating open source in the industry, and has previously served on the boards of MariaDB Corporation and the MariaDB Foundation.

“MariaDB’s success as an open source technology goes hand-in-hand with its growing popularity in the commercial market. As part of the MariaDB team, I will be able to create innovative data management capabilities more quickly, and ensure these are open and accessible to the global development community by continuing the close collaboration with the MariaDB Foundation,” he said.

Take our London & technology quiz here!