Data infrastructure provider Fivetran signed a definitive agreement this week to merge in an all-stock deal with dbt Labs. This is the third merger or acquisition for Fivetran in the past five months.
The combined company aims to deliver an open data infrastructure – unifying data movement, transformation, metadata and activation – while maintaining freedom of choice for analytics and AI, the announcement said.
The company’s vision for an open data infrastructure will reduce technical complexity by automating data management end-to-end and working with any computer, catalog, BI tool or AI model.
The data layer is becoming increasingly important for companies looking to deliver personalized experiences or deploy AI agents. Data must be accurate and readily available to ensure agents don’t deviate from the intended path and experiences don’t fall short.
Fivetran’s previous acquisitions in 2025 included Census, which it acquired in May, and Tobiko Data, the company behind SQLMesh and SQLGlot, which it bought in September.
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One of the things that Census, SQLMesh, SQL Glot and dbt Core have in common is their open-source nature.
In a statement announcing the merger, Fivetran reaffirmed its commitment to open data infrastructure.
“As part of this transaction, the company is committed to keeping dbt Core open under its current license and maintaining it together with and for the community so that its development remains vibrant,” the statement said.
CEO and co-founder of dbt Labs Tristan Handy echoed that sentiment in a blog post announcing the merger.
“I know some of you reading this will be concerned that Fivetran’s historic focus on building proprietary software would find its way into dbt’s ethos, but we expect the exact opposite,” Handy wrote.
Not everyone is convinced at this point. Not only are open source options being acquired, but consolidation is leading to fewer choices and a shrinking of the analytics engineering ecosystem.
Fivetran CEO George Fraser will serve as CEO of the unified company, and Handy will serve as co-founder and president. The completion of the merger remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Until then, Fivetran and dbt Labs will continue to operate as separate, independent companies.
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