Datastax Acquires Kesque: Expanding into Data Streaming

Datastax, widely recognized for its commercial support of the Apache Cassandra open-source database, is broadening its focus beyond database technology. The company recently announced the acquisition of Kesque, a cloud messaging service.

The Kesque team developed its service utilizing the Apache Pulsar messaging and streaming project. Datastax is now integrating that team’s expertise with its own, resulting in the launch of Datastax Luna Streaming, a new streaming platform built on Pulsar, which is now available to the public.

This development coincides with Datastax’s announcement of achieving cash-flow positivity and profitability, as shared by the company’s chief product officer, Ed Anuff. He stated that the company has surpassed $150 million in annual recurring revenue and is currently both cash-flow positive and profitable. This is the first time this financial data has been made public. Furthermore, Datastax revealed that approximately 20 percent of its annual contract value is now attributed to DataStax Astra, its managed multi-cloud Cassandra service, and the number of self-service Astra subscribers has more than doubled between the third and fourth quarters.

The introduction of Luna Streaming provides the decade-old company with a new avenue for expansion—one that naturally complements its current product offerings.

“We observed how many developers are building applications on Cassandra,” explained Anuff, who joined Datastax after his tenure at Google Cloud. “They are frequently tackling ‘data-in-motion’ challenges, managing substantial incoming and outgoing data streams, and typically require streaming capabilities alongside that. As we considered the future direction of Datastax, streaming emerged as a key component.”

Consistent with Datastax’s commitment to open-source principles, the team opted to construct its service upon another open-source project and acquire an open-source company to facilitate this endeavor. Anuff pointed out that while Apache Kafka has garnered significant attention in the streaming space, a cloud-native solution like Pulsar appeared more suitable for the company. Pulsar was originally created at Yahoo! (which, for transparency, is part of the same Verizon Media Group as TechCrunch), and Datastax was already leveraging Pulsar to develop its Astra platform even prior to the Kesque acquisition. Other organizations utilizing Pulsar include Yahoo, Tencent, Nutanix, and Splunk.

“Our assessment revealed that Kafka isn’t the sole option for scalable streaming solutions,” Anuff said. “We evaluated Pulsar, appreciated its architecture, the active community, and, as a company rooted in the Apache open-source community, we believed it possessed the necessary foundations. We decided to actively engage with and contribute to the Pulsar project.” This process led the team to Kesque founder Chris Bartholomew, ultimately resulting in the company’s acquisition.

The new Luna Streaming service will be positioned as a “path to success with Apache Pulsar.” It will encompass a free, production-ready distribution of Pulsar, alongside an optional, subscription-based tier offering enterprise support with a service level agreement.

Datastax also intends to maintain an active role within the Pulsar community. The team is already contributing code and, as Anuff emphasized, is assisting with scalability testing. “Our experience with the Apache Cassandra project taught us that these projects often benefit from contributions in testing, deployment assistance, and user support. Our aim is to be a valuable and engaged member of the community.”