CedarDB wants to unite transactional and analytical databases in one system
Munich startup CedarDB offers a database engine that handles both day-to-day transactions and analytical queries. It announced limited availability of CedarDB Cloud at TechCrunch Disrupt.
CedarDB, a Munich-based startup building a database engine, is pitching a single system for both transactional and analytical workloads. Traditionally, databases serve one of two purposes: analytical ones help companies spot trends and answer business questions, while operational ones store everyday records such as orders and payments. Cofounder and CEO Moritz Sichert told TechCrunch that this approach has become more relevant as agentic AI spreads. On Wednesday, the company announced limited availability of its cloud version, CedarDB Cloud, at TechCrunch Disrupt.
From research project to company
CedarDB is a spinout of the Technical University of Munich, based on Umbra, a research project built from scratch to beat older database engines on processing speed by making the most of modern hardware. The five cofounders are all former Umbra researchers. They promise faster performance without additional CPUs, processing power or memory, and few changes for customers.
The system is compatible with PostgreSQL, an open-source database system. According to Sichert, this keeps switching costs low because users don't have to rebuild their apps. It also means CedarDB follows the logic that large language models know best from their training.
Products and funding
Last May, the company announced a €5.3 million seed round (about $6 million) along with two versions: CedarDB Enterprise, an on-premise offering, and the free CedarDB Community Edition. The cloud offering was delayed rather than dropped. After beta testing with users from a waitlist, it is now being rolled out in limited form. A fully managed, cloud-hosted version could help the company reach beyond large enterprises.
CedarDB is one of 20 startups competing in TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield contest.
Competition
In June, at its Data + AI Summit, the US data company Databricks cited the agentic era as the reason for launching LTAP, an architecture that unifies transactions, analytics, streaming and operational data on a single copy of storage. Sichert sees this as another sign of demand for what CedarDB does, though it is too early to judge how disruptive it will be.
The first cloud users will be served by the current team of 14 people. Sichert expects the company will need more staff as it gains traction, and that is when it would raise its next round.
