Snowflake has announced its acquisition of Samooha, a startup specializing in a “cross-cloud” data collaboration suite, marking another significant tech acquisition in the lead-up to the holiday season.
The deal, set to be finalized by the end of the month pending customary closing conditions, provides Snowflake with access to a well-established “data clean room” platform. This platform enables businesses to securely collaborate, share, and derive insights from their data and that of their partners, irrespective of the underlying data stack.
In return for the acquisition, Samooha receives an undisclosed amount in cash and/or stock, along with the backing of Snowflake’s extensive technical and engineering infrastructure. All 19 employees of Samooha, including CEO Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan and co-founder Abhishek Bhowmick, will be integrated into Snowflake in various roles.
Carl Perry, Snowflake’s Director of Product Management, emphasized that the acquisition aligns with the company’s mission to mobilize global data. He highlighted the benefits for both Samooha and Snowflake customers, emphasizing the enhancement of Snowflake’s platform capabilities and the expansion of data clean room usage within the Snowflake ecosystem.
Samooha, based in Los Altos and founded in 2022, competes in the crowded data clean room sector. Notable competitors include AWS and startups like Herb. Samooha stands out due to its strong reliance on the Snowflake ecosystem, with Snowflake being an early investor.
As a native app on Snowflake, Samooha offers customers a no-code UI for accessing and building clean room apps. The startup targeted underserved verticals such as healthcare, financial services, advertising, retail, and entertainment, claiming Fortune 500 brands among its clientele.
Prior to the acquisition, Samooha raised $12.5 million from investors, including Altimeter Capital, valuing the startup at around $40 million post-money.
Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, CEO of Samooha, expressed the founding hypothesis that the future of data and AI relies on secure data sharing and collaboration. Joining Snowflake enhances Snowflake’s capability to facilitate seamless collaboration for enterprises, ensuring governance, privacy, and security of their data.
The strategic move into data clean room technology aligns with industry trends. According to Gartner, a significant percentage of advertisers with substantial media spending will utilize data clean rooms for various applications by the end of the year. A poll in early 2023 indicated a growing focus on data clean rooms among U.S. marketers, making Snowflake’s investment in this technology potentially lucrative in the long run.
