Amsterdam becomes home to MotherDuck's European operations

MotherDuck chooses Amsterdam to nest its European headquarters

Last month, cloud data technology company from the United States MotherDuck, officially established its European headquarters in Amsterdam. This strategic expansion highlights the Dutch capital’s appeal as a leading hub for international tech companies. By setting up its operations in the Netherlands, MotherDuck aims to address growing challenges in data management and analytics while enhancing its collaboration with local partners such as DuckDB Labs.

CEO Jordan Tigani founded the company in 2022 to realise DuckDB's potential for creating a scalable, cloud-based data service. Backed by $47.5 million in funding and a partnership with DuckDB Labs, the companies jointly develop a serverless cloud analytics platform, making Amsterdam their innovation hub.

Strengthening a cross-Atlantic partnership

MotherDuck's move to Amsterdam stems from its strong ties with Dutch innovation and DuckDB Labs. DuckDB, an open-source database system, was created in 2019 by Dutch researchers at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the Netherlands’ national research institute for mathematics and computer science. DuckDB Labs, a CWI spin-off, has since been instrumental in advancing DuckDB's technology.

Why Amsterdam?

MotherDuck’s decision to establish its European headquarters in Amsterdam was driven by the city’s thriving tech ecosystem and considerable talent pool. Attracting top talent from across Europe, Amsterdam hosts a motivated community of computer scientists, including those at major tech firms like Elastic and Databricks, former employers of two MotherDuck co-founders. Making the most of this talent base, the company aims to expand its European operations.

The Netherlands’ world-class digital infrastructure, featuring one of Europe’s fastest internet networks and the renowned Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX), ensures seamless cloud operations and supports MotherDuck’s high-performance data solutions. This move positions the company within the Netherlands’ collaborative, innovation-driven tech ecosystem, creating growth in Europe’s data technology landscape.

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