2700 万美金：阿里巴巴领投 MariaDB
MariaDB 阿里巴巴
![](/data/attachment/album/201710/01/232254qf58x5ufed4uz407.jpg)


阿里巴巴在 2017 年一直努力推进其云计算业务，而现在它将首次对该领域的一家西方初创公司做出重大投资。


据知情人士透露，这家中国的电子商务巨头同意对 MariaDB 领投 2290 万欧元（2700 万美元）。MariaDB 是一家欧洲公司，其开发维护的 mariadb 数据库是最受欢迎的开源数据库之一。该交易仍未完成，但在本周 MariaDB 股东批准之后有望很快完成。


阿里巴巴和 MariaDB 均未对此置评。


据悉，阿里巴巴本次将投资 2000 万欧元，而剩余部分将由 MariaDB 现有股东追加投资。该交易将使 MariaDB 的估值达到 3 亿欧元（约合 3.54 亿美元），而阿里巴巴的云业务部门的首席工程师余锋将加入该公司董事会。


今年五月份 MariaDB 从欧洲投资银行[募集到的 2500 万欧元（当时价值 2700 万美元）](https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/08/open-source-database-developer-mariadb-picks-up-27m-from-the-eib/)，当时估值越 2 亿至 2.5 亿美元，此次估值较之前次大为提高。据悉阿里巴巴非常希望完成该笔投资，因此几乎允许 MariaDB 对其出让的股份自行开价。


MariaDB 最常用作流行的数据库 MySQL 的替代品，二者都是开源产品，但有些人对 MySQL 心存疑虑，因为它现在属于 Oracle 公司。


### 关于阿里巴巴


阿里巴巴的云计算业务是其增长最快的业务单元，在去年其达到了三位数的营收增长。


[我们今年早些时候的文章提到过](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/27/alibaba-aliyun-cloud-computing/)，它现在正在努力与该行业最大的竞争对手，如 AWS、微软 Azure 和谷歌云展开竞争。虽然这还有一些路要走，但迹象表明还是有希望的。阿里云业务在最近一个财年的营收达到了 10 亿美元，前一个季度超过了 100 万个用户。该业务最近几个季度将可能达到收支平衡，虽然其目前只占了阿里巴巴全部业务营收的不到 5%。


云是阿里巴巴正在重点发展领域之一，因为它看起来将是新的收入来源之一，这可以让它摆脱对其核心的中国电子商务业务的依赖——[尽管它目前仍然带来了大量利润](https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/17/alibaba-profit-doubles-to-2-1b/)。


该公司也在其它领域展开了大量投资，比如对印度的独角兽公司 [Paytm](https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/06/alibaba-paytm-amazon-india/) 和东南亚的 [Lazada](https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/28/alibaba-ups-its-stake-in-southeast-asias-lazada-with-1-billion-investment/) 和 [Tokopedia](https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/17/alibaba-tokopedia/) 的投资，所以对更大范围的云和基础架构领域进行投资、以推进其战略也并不为奇。


对中国同领域的公司，如[云存储厂商七牛](http://www.avcj.com/avcj/news/3006331/yunfeng-alibaba-invest-usd152m-in-chinese-cloud-storage-firm)和[大数据公司数梦工场](http://technode.com/2017/06/12/chinas-cloud-industry-moving-to-new-era-with-emergence-of-unicorns/)进行投资，以及[加入微软的开源社区](https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/03/alibaba-cloud-adopts-microsofts-open-source-networking-software/)，甚至[在中国直接和 MariaDB 进行合作](http://diginomica.com/2017/04/12/alibaba-on-open-source-and-cloud-business-in-china-live-from-the-mariadb-user-conference/)，这些都使阿里巴巴在海外市场备受关注。


### 关于 MariaDB


以前名为 SkySQL 的 MariaDB 由于其在该行业的地位而备受阿里巴巴关注。它在瑞典和美国设有办事处，其声称已经服务了全球 1200 万数据库用户，这其中包括一些著名公司，如 Booking.com、HP、 Virgin Mobile 和维基。其解决方案用在私有云、公有云和混合云部署中，它是包括 Red Hat、Ubuntu 和 SUSE 在内的大量 Linux 发行版的默认数据库软件，这会为其进一步增加 6000 万用户。


SkySQL 最初创立于 2009 年，并于 2013 年与 Monty Program Ab 合并，后者是 Michael ‘Monty’ Widenius 在 2008 年将其公司 MySQL 以 10 亿美金卖给了太阳微系统公司（现在属于 Oracle）后创立的。由于担心 Oracle 对 MySQL 的一些做法，MariaDB 数据库后来从 MySQL 数据库中分支而来。


OK
[Alibaba has spent 2017 pushing its cloud computing business](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/27/alibaba-aliyun-cloud-computing/) and now it is preparing to make its first major investment in a Western startup in the space.

The Chinese e-commerce giant has agreed to lead a €22.9 million ($27 million) investment in MariaDB, the European company behind one of the web’s most popular open source database servers, according to a source with knowledge of negotiations. The deal has not closed yet, but it is imminent after MariaDB’s shareholders gave their approval this week.

Neither Alibaba nor MariaDB responded to requests for comment.

TechCrunch understands that Alibaba is contributing around €20 million with the remaining capital coming from existing backers. The deal values MariaDB at around the €300 million ($354 million) mark and it will see Alibaba’s [Feng Yu](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mryufeng/), a principal engineer within its cloud business, join the startup’s board.

That represents a significant appreciation on the $200 million-$250 million valuation that it got back in May when [it raised €25 million (then worth $27 million)](https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/08/open-source-database-developer-mariadb-picks-up-27m-from-the-eib/) from the European Investment Bank. Our source indicated that Alibaba’s willingness to do business essentially enabled MariaDB to pick a valuation of its choosing.

MariaDB is best known for operating the most popular alternative to MySQL, a database management system. Both are open source products but there is caution from some around MySQL from some because it is owned by Oracle — a huge corporation — courtesy of its acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

Alibaba’s cloud computing business is one of its fastest growing units, consistently charting triple-digit revenue growth over the past year.

[We wrote earlier this year that it is pushing hard to rival the industry’s biggest players](https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/27/alibaba-aliyun-cloud-computing/), like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. While it still has some way to go, the signs are promising. The cloud business hit $1 billion in annualized revenue this year and it surpassed one million customers during the most recent quarter. The unit is likely to reach break-even in coming quarters, though it still accounts for less than five percent of Alibaba’s overall revenue.

Cloud is just one area Alibaba is focused on developing as it looks to generate new sources of revenue to lessen the dependence on its core China commerce business, [even though that continues to be hugely lucrative](https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/17/alibaba-profit-doubles-to-2-1b/).

The firm has made big investments in those other areas — backing unicorns [Paytm](https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/06/alibaba-paytm-amazon-india/) in India, and [Lazada](https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/28/alibaba-ups-its-stake-in-southeast-asias-lazada-with-1-billion-investment/) and [Tokopedia](https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/17/alibaba-tokopedia/) in Southeast Asia — so why not look at the wider cloud/infrastructure industry for deals to advance its strategy?

Having invested in Chinese players like [cloud storage provider Qiniu](http://www.avcj.com/avcj/news/3006331/yunfeng-alibaba-invest-usd152m-in-chinese-cloud-storage-firm) and [big data firm Dt Dream](http://technode.com/2017/06/12/chinas-cloud-industry-moving-to-new-era-with-emergence-of-unicorns/), [joined Microsoft’s open source community](https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/03/alibaba-cloud-adopts-microsofts-open-source-networking-software/) and even [worked with MariaDB directly in China](http://diginomica.com/2017/04/12/alibaba-on-open-source-and-cloud-business-in-china-live-from-the-mariadb-user-conference/), this would be Alibaba’s most notable cloud deal on overseas turf.

Formerly known as SkySQL, MariaDB is attractive to Alibaba due to its presence in the industry. It has offices in Sweden and the U.S. and claims around 12 million global users of its databases, with some of the larger names including Booking.com, HP, Virgin Mobile and Wikipedia. Its solutions are used in private, public and hybrid cloud deployments and it is the default in a number of Linux distributions like Red Hat, Ubuntu and SUSE, which adds a further reach of 60 million users.

SkySQL was originally founded in 2009 and merged with Monty Program Ab in 2013. Monty Program was founded by Michael ‘Monty’ Widenius after he sold his previous company MySQL to Sun Microsystems (now owned by Oracle) in 2008 for $1 billion. MariaDB later forked MySQL due to concerns about the way Oracle might use it.