By Anirban Ghoshal
Database and related services provider DataStax is acquiring Logspace, creator of the open source package Langflow, for an undisclosed sum, in order to help developers build generative AI applications faster, it said Thursday.
Langflow is an open-source, web-based no-code graphical user interface (GUI) that allows developers to visually prototype LangChain flows and iterate them to develop applications faster. LangChain is a modular framework for Python and JavaScript that simplifies the development of applications that are powered by generative AI language models or LLMs.
Datastax said that Langflow integrates with its RAGStack—an offering released in November last year to simplify implementation of retrieval augmented generation (RAG) applications built with LangChain. RAGStack reduces complexity by providing a streamlined, tested, and efficient set of tools and techniques for building with LLMs in one place, the company said.
A more attractive starting point
Logspace has only been around a couple of years: It was founded in January 2022 by Gabriel Luiz Freitas Almeida and Rodrigo Nader.
DataStax is buying Logspace in order to make use of Langflow, which the company released in March 2023.
Langflow has gained appreciation and traction from developers, and DataStax’ head of developer relations, Carter Rabasa, expects the acquisition to put the company “front and center” for all RAG-based application development.
For Amalgam Insights’ chief analyst Hyoun Park, the acquisition makes DataStax a more attractive starting point for enterprises that want to tweak an existing open source model for business use rather than go through the process of building their own models.
“This should be an extremely attractive offer for mid-sized organizations with a corpus of internal data and the desire to use generative AI to gain competitive advantages and productivity,” Park said.
However, DataStax rivals such as MongoDB and Azure Cosmos DB are also adding support for vector search, embeddings and RAG, said Doug Henschen, principal analyst at Constellation Research, adding that it was “early days” for everybody.
“It usually takes time to add such capabilities and gain adoption, so I suspect the Langflow acquisition is all about acceleration while AI interest is high,” Henschen said.
Langflow, too, faces competition from rivals, analysts said.
According to Park, Langflow’s biggest competition in the drag and drop RAG space is Flowise.
“Generally, Langflow does a better job of supporting persistent discussions while Flowise’s tools are a bit more focused on the SQL and specific data being pulled out at the time of request,” Park said.
Following the acquisition the Langflow team will operate independently, focusing on project innovation and community collaboration, DataStax’ Rabasa said, adding that Langflow has a community of more than 15,000 developers interacting through GitHub. Additionally, the acquisition will also see 10 to 12 direct staff from Logspace, experienced in AI and machine learning development, joining DataStax, he said.
