MariaDB, which went public via SPAC in December 2022, gets an offer from K1 to go private in a $37M deal, or $0.55/share, far below its $672M Series D valuation
if it is controlled by capitalists, don't call it FLOSS. — this should have been clear by now with the bait-and-switch Google pulled with the “privatization” of Android's GApps vs. ASOS. … Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : MariaDB, which has maintained an Open Source fork of MySQL for 15 years as a hedge against Oracle's acquisition, is in talks to be taken private at $37M which is far below the $230M raised over its lifetime. — MariaDB has struggled against the same challenges facing other Open Source server software products like Mongo DB & Elastic Search. … @andymoose@mastodon.social : @Techmeme that explains why Azure are shutting their managed service down. X: Aaron Levie / @levie : Wow [image] Forums: r/technology : Struggling database company MariaDB could be taken private in $37M deal
Context & Ripple Effects
MariaDB’s proposed sale follows a sharp reset from its $104M Series D and planned SPAC listing at a roughly $672M valuation. Its public-market debut then closed down 39.6% on day one, establishing the valuation pressure behind the offer.
The company’s long-running role as an open-source MySQL fork makes the transaction consequential beyond one small-cap listing: it tests whether a standalone vendor can translate widely used server software into durable commercial returns.
First-order effects
- K1’s $37M, $0.55-per-share proposal gives MariaDB shareholders a potential exit at a steep discount to the company’s prior private valuation and cumulative funding.
- If approved, the deal would move MariaDB from NYSE ownership to private-equity control, changing its governance and the incentives around its commercial open-source business.
Second-order effects
- The gap between MariaDB’s financing history and proposed price reinforces pressure on other open-source database vendors to show that support, subscriptions, or cloud-adjacent products can sustain public-market expectations.
- Customers and ecosystem partners may scrutinize MariaDB’s product and support roadmap more closely during a change of ownership, while rivals can use continuity concerns to compete for workloads.
Third-order effects
- The case points to a continued sorting of open-source infrastructure companies: software adoption alone may not support independent public-company valuations without a repeatable monetization model.
- If similar take-private deals persist, private equity could become a more prominent owner of mature open-source vendors, concentrating strategic decisions over widely deployed infrastructure in fewer hands.
The trend: MariaDB is one data point in the monetization reckoning for open-source infrastructure vendors whose public valuations have diverged from their software reach and private-market funding history.