`It's Frankly Great for Us': MongoDB CEO Welcomes Amazon Rivalry

(Bloomberg) -- MongoDB Inc., the fast-growing database software company, saw its shares tumble after Amazon released a rival offering. The company’s response? Bring it on.

“It’s frankly great for us,” Chief Executive Officer Dev Ittycheria said in an interview on Wednesday. “I don’t say that just out of either naivete or hubris.”

Amazon’s move follows competition from Microsoft and further validates MongoDB’s approach to the database market, which is centered on documents rather than tables, according to Ittycheria. Furthermore, he sees Amazon’s service as antiquated with about a third of the features that MongoDB has.

“It drives a ton of awareness for us,” he said. “We’re more than happy to compete.”

MongoDB shares plunged 13 percent on Jan. 10 after Amazon announced its competing DocumentDB service, the biggest drop since the company went public in October 2017. Amazon has said MongoDB users face challenges in building applications that can quickly scale and its service offers improved performance. Analysts who follow MongoDB rushed to defend the company’s place as market leader, and the stock has recovered much of the initial decline.

MongoDB’s revenue is expected to jump 58 percent to $244.8 million in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, according to the average of analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The pace of growth has fueled a more than three-fold gain in the stock since its initial public offering. That’s attracted investors such as Whale Rock Capital Management and Tiger Global Management.

The New York-based company is trying to rapidly expand its sales force, while investing in its “self-serve” sales channel. Ittycheria sees that as a key growth driver that will be a “meaningful” part of the business in the long run.
 
 
 
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeran Wittenstein in San Francisco at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at [email protected]
 
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