On Wednesday, Boston database tech firm Akiban Technologies was acquired by FoundationDB, a fellow database startup in the D.C. suburb of Vienna, VA, according to a FoundationDB blog post.
While both working within the world of database technology, Akiban and FoundationDB have been taking separate and yet complementary approaches to solving the big data puzzle.
Akiban facilitates businesses' handling of big data over traditional SQL operational databases. FoundationDB, on the other hand, has created its own NoSQL storage technology that enables businesses to scale their applications as well as maintain the backed up data's consistency.
The combination of the two similar storage startups means that the new company can create a multi-layered NoSQL and SQL database system.
"Akiban’s technology is a natural fit as a powerful layer on top of the FoundationDB engine, and, like all layers, will inherit the exceptional properties of FoundationDB including scalability, fault tolerance, and true ACID transactions," reads the blog.
FoundationDB will keep on to the Akiban engineering team, which will move from Akiban's current space in the South End to the Cambridge Innovation Center, Ori Herrnstadt, CEO and co-founder of Akiban, tells the Boston Business Journal. (Akiban currently employs around 25 people, while FoundationDB has 20 of its own.)
Others from Akiban, including co-founder and former CEO David McFarlane, have already left the newly merged company, Herrnstadt reports.
Both companies were founded in 2009. Akiban has raised $9 million in venture capital funding from North Bridge Venture Partners and Foundation Capital. Foundation DB has raised a "Series A amount of money," FoundationDB co-founder David Rosenthal says, in addition to funding from the company's founders.
Prior to FoundationDB, the company's founders– Rosenthal, Nick Lavezzo, and Dave Scherer– started and went public with an analytics technology firm, known as Visual Sciences. The startup was acquired by Omniture in 2007 for approximately $394 million.
