Alibaba Acquires Berlin Data Streaming Startup Data Artisans for $103 Million
Alibaba spends $103 million to buy Data Artisans, the Berlin startup behind enterprise data streaming platform Apache Flink. The acquisition brings Alibaba's in-house Blink technology to the open source community.
Alibaba pays €90 million, or $103 million, to acquire Data Artisans, a Berlin-based startup that specializes in distributed systems and large-scale data streaming services. Both companies confirm the deal through official blog posts after European media initially report the news. Data Artisans is known for creating the dA Platform, which utilizes the open source Apache Flink technology to serve major enterprise clients like Netflix, Uber, and ING.
The Chinese e-commerce giant and the startup share a working relationship that dates back to 2016, when they first collaborated on open source work and software architecture improvements. Data Artisans co-founders Kostas Tzoumas and Stephan Ewen reveal that an unannounced Series B funding round closed last year with Alibaba's involvement. Now under Alibaba's ownership, Data Artisans plans to explore new horizons and make Flink a more valuable framework for real-time, data-driven enterprises.
As part of the strategic acquisition, Alibaba commits to contributing its own internal data processing technology, known as Blink, to the Apache Flink open source community. Alibaba vice president Jingren Zhou states that combining the expertise of both teams accelerates data-processing technologies and fosters a collaborative environment for global developers. This move mirrors Alibaba's ongoing strategy to invest heavily in foundational open source big data technologies.