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Snowflake Inc.

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Snowflake Inc.
Company type
Public
FoundedJuly 23, 2012; 13 years ago (2012-07-23) in San Mateo, California, U.S.
Founders
  • Benoît Dageville
  • Thierry Cruanes
  • Marcin Żukowski
HeadquartersMenlo Park, California, U.S.
Key people
ServicesCloud data platform
RevenueIncrease US$4.68 billion (2026)
Negative increase US$−1.44 billion (2026)
Decrease US$−1.33 billion (2026)
Total assetsIncrease US$9.13 billion (2026)
Total equityDecrease US$1.92 billion (2026)
Number of employees
9,060 (2026)
Websitewww.snowflake.com Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
Financials as of January 31, 2026.[1]
Snowflake booth

Snowflake Inc. is an American cloud-based data platform company founded in San Mateo, California, and headquartered in Menlo Park. It operates a platform that supports data analysis and simultaneous access to data sets with minimal latency.[1] It operates on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

History

[edit]

Snowflake Inc. was founded in July 2012 in San Mateo, California, by Benoît Dageville, Thierry Cruanes, and Marcin Żukowski. Dageville and Cruanes previously worked as data architects at Oracle Corporation; Żukowski was a co-founder of Vectorwise. Mike Speiser, a venture capitalist at Sutter Hill Ventures, which provided early funding to the company, served as its first CEO.[2]

In June 2014, Bob Muglia, formerly of Microsoft, was named CEO. In October 2014, Snowflake came out of stealth mode; at that time, it was used by 80 organizations.[3][4]

Snowflake has run on Amazon Web Services since 2014,[5][6] on Microsoft Azure since 2018,[7] and on the Google Cloud Platform since 2019.[8]

In June 2015, Snowflake launched its first product, its cloud data warehouse.[9]

In May 2019, Frank Slootman, formerly CEO of ServiceNow, joined Snowflake as its CEO.[10]

In June 2019, the company launched Snowflake Data Exchange.[11]

In December 2020, the company added Knoema as a data provider in the Snowflake Data Marketplace.[12]

In May 2021, the company became a distributed company, with a principal executive office in Bozeman, Montana.[13]

On February 28, 2024, Frank Slootman retired as CEO and was replaced by Neeva's cofounder Sridhar Ramaswamy.[14]

In February 2026, Snowflake reported Q4 fiscal 2026 product revenue of $1.23 billion, up 30% year-over-year, with full-year product revenue reaching $4.72 billion. Remaining performance obligations totaled $9.77 billion, a 42% increase, reflecting strong demand for AI infrastructure. The company reported over 9,100 accounts using Snowflake AI features.[15]

Products

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Snowflake develops and sells a cloud-based data platform known as the Data Cloud. The platform allows organizations to unify data warehousing, data lakes, data engineering, and data sharing into a single service. Snowflake runs on public cloud infrastructure such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and separates compute from storage for scalable, on-demand analytics.[16]

In 2020, Snowflake introduced Snowpark, a developer framework that enables writing data pipelines and business logic using Java, Scala, and Python directly within Snowflake.[17]

In 2021, Snowflake launched Unistore, a hybrid workload that combines transactional and analytical operations within the same platform, enabling real-time applications to be built directly on Snowflake.[18]

In 2023, the company introduced the Native App Framework, which allows developers to build, distribute, and monetize applications that run securely within a customer’s Snowflake account.[19]

Snowflake also provides services including Snowpipe for continuous data ingestion and the Snowflake Marketplace, where organizations can access and share live, query-ready datasets.[20]

In 2024, Snowflake launched Cortex, a set of generative AI services embedded into the platform. Cortex includes access to large language models, vector search, and model deployment capabilities, allowing users to build AI-powered applications using SQL or Python.[21] Recently, it has introduced Snowflake Intelligence.

Snowflake supports workloads such as machine learning, streaming analytics, business intelligence, and unstructured data processing, with integrations for tools like Tableau, Power BI, and Sigma Computing.[22]

Acquisitions

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In October 2022, the company acquired a 5% stake in advanced TV advertising firm OpenAP.[23]

In May 2023, Snowflake agreed to acquire privacy-focused search startup, Neeva, for $185 million.[24][14]

In June 2025, Snowflake announced its acquisition of Crunchy Data, a provider of cloud-based PostgreSQL services and distributor of certified Postgres, for approximately $250 million.[25][26] Later that year, Snowflake relocated its headquarters back to California, in Menlo Park.[27]

In January 2026, Snowflake announced an agreement to acquire Observe, an AI-powered observability company.[28][29]

2024 data breach

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In 2024, hundreds of customers of Snowflake were targeted as part of a mass customer data theft and extortion campaign by the ShinyHunters hacking group.[30][31][32][33] Data breaches affected Ticketmaster,[34] Advance Auto Parts,[35] Santander Bank, Neiman Marcus, LendingTree, AT&T, Pure Storage, and Bausch Health.[36] In May 2024, Snowflake collaborated with Mandiant in an investigation which found no evidence of Snowflake’s environment being breached but rather customer credentials being compromised.[37][38]

Two men were involved in the hacking conspiracy that were a part of the ShinyHunters hacking group. Connor Riley Moucka aka Waifu/Catist, 25, of Kitchener, Ontario, and John Erin Binns aka IRDev. Moucka was arrested on October 30, 2024; a Washington state court has issued an indictment on charges of conspiracy, computer fraud and abuse, extortion, and aggravated identity theft.[39][40][41]

Funding

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In 2012, Snowflake raised $5 million in a Series A round. In October 2014, it raised $26 million.[3]

In June 2015, the company raised $45 million.[42][9][43] It raised $100 million in April 2017.[44][45]

In January 2018, the company raised $263 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, making it a unicorn.[46] In October of that same year, the company raised $450 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital, at a $3.5 billion valuation.[3][47]

On February 7, 2020, the company raised $479 million. The company went public in September via an initial public offering, raising $3.4 billion in one of the largest software IPOs and the largest to double on its first day of trading.[48][49][50][51][52]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "US SEC: Form 10-K Snowflake, Inc". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. March 20, 2026.
  2. ^ Anders, George (September 4, 2019). "You're never too old to excel: How Snowflake thrives with 'dinosaur' cofounders and a 60-year-old CEO". LinkedIn.
  3. ^ a b c Dignan, Larry (October 22, 2018). "Snowflake raises $450 million in another VC round, valued at $3.5 billion". ZDNet.
  4. ^ Bass, Dina (October 21, 2014). "Snowflake Takes Aim at Amazon, Hadoop With New Data Service". Bloomberg News.
  5. ^ Handy, Alex (October 23, 2014). "Snowflake offers cloud data warehouse as a service, cheaply". SD Times.
  6. ^ Wingfield, Nick (October 21, 2014). "Longtime Microsoft Executive Opens Cloud Database Start-Up". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Brust, Andrew (July 12, 2018). "Snowflake's cloud data warehouse comes to Microsoft Azure". ZDNet.
  8. ^ Ichhpurani, Kevin (June 4, 2019). "Announcing Snowflake on Google Cloud Platform". Google Cloud Platform (Press release).
  9. ^ a b Hesseldahl, Arik (June 23, 2015). "Big Data Startup Snowflake Raises $45 Million, Launches First Product". Vox Media.
  10. ^ Krazit, Tom (May 1, 2019). "Snowflake Computing CEO Bob Muglia is out, replaced by former ServiceNow CEO Frank Slootman". GeekWire. Retrieved April 9, 2026.
  11. ^ "Snowflake Announces Data Exchange to Break Down Data Barriers" (Press release). PR Newswire. June 4, 2019.
  12. ^ Gogineni, Manasa (December 21, 2020). "Knoema announces acquisition by Eldridge and partnership with Snowflake". VentureBeat.
  13. ^ Levy, Ari (May 26, 2021). "Snowflake relocates executive office from California to Bozeman, Montana, as company goes distributed". CNBC.
  14. ^ a b Vanian, Jonathan (February 28, 2024). "Snowflake says Frank Slootman is retiring as CEO; stock plunges 20%". CNBC.
  15. ^ "Snowflake Reports Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Full-Year of Fiscal 2026". Snowflake. Retrieved March 21, 2026.
  16. ^ "How Snowflake Works". Snowflake. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  17. ^ "Announcing Snowpark: Bringing Data Programmability to the Data Cloud". Snowflake. June 15, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  18. ^ "Snowflake introduces Unistore to combine OLTP and OLAP". ZDNet. June 15, 2021. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  19. ^ "Build and Monetize Data Apps with the Snowflake Native App Framework". Snowflake. June 27, 2023. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  20. ^ "Data Sharing and Marketplace". Snowflake Docs. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  21. ^ Sharma, Shubham (November 1, 2023). "Snowflake unveils Cortex, a managed service to build LLM apps in the data cloud". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 9, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ "Snowflake Ecosystem". Snowflake. Retrieved May 19, 2025.
  23. ^ Sharma, Shubham (October 17, 2022). "Snowflake acquires stake in OpenAP to set up data clean room for advertisers". VentureBeat.
  24. ^ Palmer, Annie (May 24, 2023). "Snowflake shares plunge 12% on guidance miss, acquisition of search startup Neeva". CNBC.
  25. ^ "Exclusive | Snowflake to Buy Crunchy Data for $250 Million". Wall Street Journal. June 2, 2025. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  26. ^ "Snowflake Undercuts Databricks with Crunchy Data Acquisition". AIM Research | Artificial Intelligence Market Insights. June 3, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  27. ^ Nguyen, Kevin V. (September 29, 2025). "Snowflake wanted in on the AI party. It signed the Bay Area's largest lease to get in". The San Francisco Standard.
  28. ^ Pattanaik, Anwesha (January 9, 2026). "Snowflake to acquire AI observability firm Observe". Tech Monitor. Retrieved January 9, 2026.
  29. ^ Haranas, Mark (January 8, 2026). "Snowflake CEO Confirms Observe Acquisition To Boost 'Enterprisewide Observability'". CRN.
  30. ^ "The Snowflake Attack May Be Turning Into One of the Largest Data Breaches Ever". WIRED. June 6, 2024.
  31. ^ Whittaker, Zach (June 5, 2024). "Hundreds of Snowflake customer passwords found online are linked to info-stealing malware". TechCrunch.
  32. ^ Gatlan, Sergiu (June 5, 2024). "Advance Auto Parts stolen data for sale after Snowflake attack". Bleeping Computer.
  33. ^ Culafi, Alexander (June 10, 2024). "Mandiant: 'Exposed credentials' led to Snowflake attacks". TechTarget.
  34. ^ Whittaker, Zack (May 31, 2024). "Live Nation confirms Ticketmaster was hacked, says personal information stolen in data breach". TechCrunch.
  35. ^ Grieg, Jonathan (July 11, 2024). "Advance Auto Parts says more than 2 million impacted by data breach". Recorded Future.
  36. ^ Cox, Joseph (July 30, 2024). "Hacker Breaches Pharma Giant Bausch Health, Wants to Extort DEA". 404 Media.
  37. ^ Alspach, Kyle. "Snowflake Customers Hit With 'Significant' Data Theft In Attacks: Mandiant". www.crn.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2024. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  38. ^ "Alleged Snowflake hacker consents to extradition from Canada after US charges". therecord.media. Retrieved December 4, 2025.
  39. ^ Pender, Terry (November 29, 2024). "Accused Kitchener hacker unmasked after threatening woman online". The Record.
  40. ^ "US indicts Snowflake hackers who extorted $2.5 million from 3 victims". BleepingComputer.
  41. ^ "Indictment" – via DocumentCloud.
  42. ^ Vanian, Jonathan (June 23, 2015). "This big data startup is as unique as a snowflake". Fortune.
  43. ^ Brust, Andrew (June 26, 2015). "Cloud data warehouse race heats up". ZDNet.
  44. ^ Dignan, Larry (April 5, 2017). "Snowflake Computing raises $100 million to expand cloud data warehouse footprint". ZDNet.
  45. ^ Magistretti, Bérénice; Novet, Jordan (April 5, 2017). "Cloud data warehouse startup Snowflake raises $100 million led by Iconiq". VentureBeat.
  46. ^ Miller, Ron (January 25, 2018). "Snowflake lands massive $263 million investment on unicorn valuation". TechCrunch.
  47. ^ Krazit, Tom (October 11, 2018). "With huge new $450M funding round, Snowflake Computing has now raised almost $1 billion". GeekWire.
  48. ^ Driebusch, Corrie (September 16, 2020). "Snowflake's Stock Price Soars in IPO". The Wall Street Journal.
  49. ^ Bary, Emily (September 16, 2020). "Snowflake IPO surge makes it the priciest tech stock by a mile". MarketWatch.
  50. ^ Zara, Christopher (September 16, 2020). "Snowflake, JFrog IPO: Software stocks soar in market debut". Fast Company.
  51. ^ Pressman, Aaron (September 16, 2020). "Snowflake CEO: Doubling of stock price after IPO reflects 'frothy' market". Fortune.
  52. ^ La Monica, Paul R. (September 16, 2020). "Snowflake Shares More than Double. It's the Biggest Software IPO Ever". CNN.
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