San Francisco-based startup Airbyte has announced a significant expansion of its capabilities, designed to enable enterprises to harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) without sacrificing control over their data. The open-source data movement company has released a suite of new features, including support for transferring unstructured data out of applications like Google Drive and SharePoint, as well as compatibility with Apache Iceberg, an open-source format for large analytic tables.

The new features are part of Airbyte's mission to provide enterprises with a secure and flexible way to manage their data, particularly in the context of AI applications. According to Michel Tricot, co-founder and CEO of Airbyte, the beauty of these new features lies in their ability to give enterprises additional ways to extract and utilize their internal data, including for AI applications on-premise. This approach provides an alternative to AI services that might put customers at risk of having their data exposed to third parties.

One of the key highlights of Airbyte's new feature set is its support for Apache Iceberg. This open-source format enables companies to move their data into a data lakehouse, creating a single "source of truth" that works with numerous applications. As Tricot explained, Iceberg is compatible with a range of popular data analytics tools, including Databricks, Bitquery, Snowflake, and new AI apps, making it an attractive solution for enterprises seeking to unlock the full potential of their data.

In addition to its support for Iceberg, Airbyte is also launching a connector bundle for enterprise customers, which includes data connector pipelines for applications such as NetSuite, SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday. This move is likely to resonate with Fortune 500 companies, which value the flexibility and efficiency of Airbyte's tools, as well as the ability to maintain full control over their data pipelines.

Tricot emphasized the importance of data sovereignty in the age of AI, urging executives not to compromise on their first-party data. "Don't give away your first-party data for intelligence," he cautioned. "That is a bad trade." By providing enterprises with a secure and flexible way to manage their data, Airbyte is helping to empower organizations to take control of their data and unlock its full potential.

Airbyte's latest move is the latest development in the company's rapid growth trajectory. Founded in 2020 by Tricot and Jean Lafleur, the company has already amassed an impressive customer base of over 7,000 enterprises, including Monday.com, Invesco, and Calendly, with around 250,000 installations. Airbyte has also raised more than $181 million in venture capital from firms such as Coatue, Accel, and Benchmark, among many others.

As the AI landscape continues to evolve, Airbyte's innovative approach to data management is likely to play an increasingly important role in empowering enterprises to harness the power of AI while maintaining control over their data. With its latest feature set, Airbyte is poised to further cement its position as a leader in the open-source data movement space.