Data analytics software maker Snowflake said Monday it has agreed to buy Crunchy Data, a startup that offers cloud-based database software. Snowflake will pay about $250 million, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.

Crunchy Data sells access to a cloud-hosted version of the PostgreSQL open-source database, which replaced MySQL as the most popular database in Stack Overflow’s annual developer survey in 2023. Crunchy Data’s service includes security and performance enhancements in comparison with the standard open-source code.

Snowflake rival Databricks last month announced its intent to acquire Neon, whose software is also based on PostgreSQL, for around $1 billion. Snowflake also looked at buying Neon last year but walked away, according to a different person who added that Crunchy Data generates over $30 million in annualized revenue.

Neon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Both Databricks and Snowflake are counting on their respective deals to help them benefit from corporate spending to deliver artificial intelligence agents that carry out tasks on their own.

With Crunchy Data, Snowflake will soon provide early access to a PostgreSQL database service, according to a statement. The plan is to simplify the process of moving data into Snowflake with the new service so clients can more easily run queries on a larger supply of data, according to Christian Kleinerman, executive vice president of product at Snowflake.

Shares of Snowflake are up around 36% so far this year. In May, Stifel analysts likened the company to top-tier golfer Scottie Scheffler, saying Snowflake had delivered a “Scheffler Like Quarter & Guide,” surpassing consensus with 25% year-over-year revenue growth. Stifel has a buy rating on Snowflake stock.

“We’re helping our customers build a strong foundation to lead in the era of agentic AI,” CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy told analysts on a conference call in May. “We’re continuing on this momentum, and you’ll see even more from us in just a few weeks.”

Crunchy Data was founded in 2012 and is based in Charleston, South Carolina, with around 100 employees. Investors include Alsop Louie Partners, Gray Ventures, Harbert Growth Partners and Heavybit. Clients include Kyndryl, Thales, UPS and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

WATCH: Snowflake shares spike more than 7% on quarterly beat

Snowflake shares popped more than 8% Thursday after the data analytics software company posted stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

The company reported adjusted earnings of 30 cents per share on $987 million in revenue, surpassing the 17 cents per share and $956 million in sales expected by analysts polled by LSEG. That reflected 27% year-over-year revenue growth.

CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy called Snowflake the “essential enterprise data and AI company on the planet right now” during an interview with CNBC’s Jon Fortt on Wednesday.

Like its peers, Snowflake has pushed to offer new artificial intelligence tools to its customers as the race for advanced large language models and AI capabilities accelerates. It announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft Azure to offer access to OpenAI models on Wednesday.

Last quarter, the company announced a multiyear partnership with Anthropic and said it had agreed to buy startup Datavolo for an undisclosed sum.

‘”It’s a step up,” Ramaswamy said. “Both these companies really represent the cutting edge of what AI can do and having those accessible … all on top of the data that sits on Snowflake, I think uniquely distinguishes us.”

Product revenue also topped analyst estimates, growing 28% to $943 million. That came in ahead of the roughly $914 million LSEG estimate. The company also said it anticipates $4.28 billion in product revenue for the year, ahead of a $4.21 billion estimate.

Guidance for the current quarter, however, came up short of estimates. Snowflake said it expects product revenues to range between $955 million to $961 million, versus a StreetAccount estimate of $961 million.

Goldman Sachs analyst Kash Rangan said the results further boosted the firm’s confidence in the revenue add from new products in the second half of the fiscal year for Snowflake and he views the company as set to become a long-term generative AI winner.

“By expanding the reach and accessibility of its core data platform to more avenues such as [large language models], Hyperscalers, etc., Snowflake can become core to the development of AI applications, evidenced by 4,000+ accounts using Snowflake AI/ML and Cortex AI’s early momentum,” he wrote.

Snowflake said it had 11,159 customers during the period, up from 10,618. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected 10,987. The company also said that Chief Financial Officer Michael Scarpelli will retire, but remain in the role until a successor is found.

— CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed reporting

Snowflake has spent the past seven weeks dealing with the fallout of a major cyberattack that compromised sensitive customer data at several of its clients. The software company’s problems just got a whole lot worse.

Telecommunications giant AT&T said in a regulatory filing on Friday that hackers tapped into a cloud platform housing customer data, gaining access to records of subscribers’ calls and text messages during a six-month period in 2022. The data includes phone numbers, aggregate call duration and some cell site details, AT&T said in the filing.

An AT&T spokesperson told CNBC that the cloud service was owned by Snowflake. Shares of Snowflake fell 1.8% on Friday, while the Nasdaq rose 0.6%.

It is the most severe incident since Snowflake disclosed the breach on May 30, writing in a blog post at the time, “We became aware of potentially unauthorized access to certain customer accounts on May 23, 2024.” Snowflake enlisted the help of cybersecurity software vendor CrowdStrike and Alphabet’s Mandiant to investigate.

Mandiant wrote in a blog post last month that, through its “Victim Notification Program,” the company and Snowflake have alerted 165 “potentially exposed organizations” of the incident. Mandiant blamed the hack on a financially motivated group it calls UNC5537, with members in North America and Turkey. UNC5537 drew on login credentials that had been available online after they had been stolen separately using malware.

Prior to Friday, the most notable companies connected to the Snowflake breach were Advance Auto Parts, LendingTree, Ticketmaster operator Live Nation and Santander Bank, which said in mid-May, prior to Snowflake’s disclosure, “We recently became aware of an unauthorized access to a Santander database hosted by a third-party provider.” 

AT&T is much bigger. The company had 242 million customers for its U.S. wireless mobility services at the end of last year, with 128 million connected devices.

The carrier said data in the breach involves “nearly all of AT&T’s wireless customers and customers of mobile virtual network operators” using its wireless network.

“While the data does not include customer names, there are often ways, using publicly available online tools, to find the name associated with a specific telephone number,” AT&T wrote. Attackers did not get access to the content of calls or texts.

A Snowflake spokesperson did not provide a comment when asked about the AT&T hack. The spokesperson pointed to the company’s prior statements about the attack.

Mandiant said in its blog post that some of the malware infections in Snowflake’s systems date to 2020, and the credentials were, in some cases, still valid years after being stolen. In certain instances, the credentials had been taken on PCs used by contractors for Snowflake customers — devices that were also used for personal activities, including downloading pirated software.

The usernames and passwords were sufficient for UNC5537 to enter customers’ Snowflake environments because they had not turned on multi-factor authentication, Mandiant said. From there, the hackers exported “a significant volume of customer data.” UNC5537 has since started extorting victims and trying to sell customer data online, Mandiant added.

AT&T said Friday that it does not believe the attack will have a material effect on its finances.

But Snowflake has warned investors that it might face reputational harm and “significant liabilities” if the company were to “experience an actual or perceived security breach or unauthorized parties otherwise obtain access to our customers’ data, our data, or our platform.”

Earlier this week, Snowflake published a blog post saying administrators can enforce the mandatory use of multi-factor authentication.

The deepening saga represents a growing challenge for Sridhar Ramaswamy, a former Google executive who in February replaced Frank Slootman as Snowflake’s CEO. Days before the hacking disclosure, Snowflake stock declined 5% after management reduced the company’s full-year adjusted operating income forecast.

Snowflake, founded in 2012, went public in 2020, raising more than $3 billion in the biggest initial public offering ever for a software company. Since a big first-day pop that lifted its market cap past $70 billion, Snowflake has slid in value, with its stock closing at $134.73 on Friday for a valuation of about $45 billion.

Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading.

Kroger — The supermarket chain fell 2.8% following a mixed second-quarter report. Kroger reported earnings per share ex-tems of 96 cents, beating the consensus forecast of 91 cents from analysts polled by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. But Kroger posted $33.85 billion in quarterly revenue, under the $34.13 billion anticipated by analysts, and said it would pay as much as $1.2 billion to settle most claims related to opioids.

Planet Labs — The satellite imagery stock slipped 2.6% in premarket trading after delivering a weaker-than-expected quarterly report Thursday. Planet Labs posted a loss of 14 cents per share on revenue of $53.8 million in the second quarter, while analysts surveyed by LSEG anticipated a loss of 8 cents per share and revenue of $54.1 million. Current-quarter and full-year guidance missed Wall Street estimates.

DocuSign — The electric signature stock advanced 2.4% in premarket trading on the heels of a stronger-than-expected quarterly report released Thursday. DocuSign posted adjusted earnings per share of 72 cents on $688 million in revenue, while analysts surveyed by LSEG forecast earnings of 66 cents per share and revenue of $678 million.

Snowflake — Shares of the cloud data provider rose nearly 2% in premarket trading after D.A. Davidson initiated research coverage of the stock with a buy rating. The Wall Street firm said Snowflake is in an advantageous position with “best-in-class growth rates” and is set to benefit from increased demand for artificial intelligence applications.

First Solar — Shares added 2.8% in early trading after being upgraded to buy from hold by Deutsche Bank on Thursday. The Wall Street firm cited First Solar’s strong growth message during its investors day. It also raised its price target to $235 a share, implying 30% upside.

Adobe — The maker of Photoshop software rose nearly 2% in premarket trading after Mizuho upgraded it to buy from neutral. Mizuho said that accelerating web traffic is a reason to become more optimistic on Adobe. The company will report its next quarterly results Sept. 14.

Gilead Sciences — The maker of antiviral drugs rose 1.6% in premarket trading. On Friday, Bank of America upgraded Gilead to buy from neutral, saying its growing pipeline is unappreciated by investors. The bank also raised its price target to $95 from $88, representing more than 25% upside from Thursday’s close.

RH — The home goods retailer dropped 7.3% in premarket trading after third-quarter guidance fell short of analysts’ estimates, according to FactSet. “We continue to expect the luxury housing market and broader economy to remain challenging throughout FY23 and into next year as mortgage rates continue to trend at 20-year highs, and the current outlook is for rates to remain unchanged until the second quarter of 2024,” CEO Gary Friedman said in a letter to shareholders.  

— CNBC’s Yun Li, Sarah Min, Jesse Pound, Michelle Fox and Scott Schnipper contributed reporting.

Buried on page 280 of Instacart’s IPO filing last week was a paragraph that caused a brouhaha between two companies that have nothing to do with grocery delivery.

One of Instacart’s board members is Frank Slootman, the CEO of Snowflake, a publicly traded company that helps businesses store and manage hefty workloads in the cloud. Slootman joined Instacart’s board in 2021 and, because of that relationship, the company has to disclose its business ties to Snowflake.

On first blush, the Instacart spending figure looks troubling for Snowflake.

Instacart said it “made payments to Snowflake” of $13 million in 2020, a number that increased to $28 million in 2021 and $51 million in 2022 for the company’s “cloud-based data warehousing services.” The 2023 numbers appear to show a reversal, with Instacart saying “we anticipate we will pay Snowflake approximately $15 million” for the full year.

That would be a frightening 71% drop in payments.

But Snowflake would later say that those figures don’t tell the real story, a fact that’s mostly backed up by a footnote even deeper in the prospectus.

In the meantime, chaos ensued.

Employees of Snowflake rival Databricks pounced. They took to social media to highlight the apparent decline in spending on Snowflake and to suggest that it was the result of Instacart moving workloads to Databricks infrastructure.

Snowflake staffers fired back, claiming the numbers were being taken out of context, and accused Databricks of consistently spinning the narrative that it was taking business from Snowflake.

Many of the posts on Reddit, LinkedIn and X, the site formerly known as Twitter, have since been deleted.

Instacart did some deleting of its own.

In May, the company published a blog post titled “How Instacart Ads Modularized Data Pipelines With Lakehouse Architecture and Spark.” The post, which described software underpinning Instacart’s ads infrastructure, included discussion of a migration to Databricks’ Lakehouse technology and the cost savings that followed.

However, that blog was taken down as questions began to swirl following the IPO filing. A reader looking for the post now ends up on a page that says, “You’ve landed in the 404 errorverse.” Databricks also took down a case study detailing Instacart’s use of its technology, though its website still has presentations from earlier this year on the topic.

Representatives from Instacart, Snowflake and Databricks declined to comment.

The controversy, which only came to light because Slootman is on Instacart’s board, has fanned the flames of a fierce rivalry between two companies battling it out in one of the hottest corners of technology, where cloud, data and artificial intelligence collide. It’s a conflict that’s made its way to social media plenty of times in the past, so much so that one Reddit user wrote a post a few months ago, titled “Databricks and Snowflake: Stop fighting on social.” A commenter responded, “Is this the pro-wrestling of data engineering?”

Snowflake went public in 2020, raising over $3 billion in the biggest U.S. IPO ever for a business software company. Even after last year’s market plunge, Snowflake has a market cap of over $50 billion.

Databricks is still private, but it’s one of the most richly valued venture-backed companies. Private investors valued the company at $38 billion in 2021, and Bloomberg reported last week that the company was in talks to raise funding at a $43 billion valuation.

To expand in AI, Snowflake recently acquired AI search engine Neeva for $185 million, while Databricks spent $1.3 billion on generative AI startup MosaicML.

With the online chatter picking up, Snowflake wanted to clear up the picture, at least from its point of view. On Wednesday, the company published a four-paragraph blog post titled, “Snowflake and Instacart: The Facts.”

“In the past few days, the scope and trajectory of Instacart’s use of Snowflake has been misrepresented by some on social media,” the post begins. Nowhere is Databricks mentioned in the post, a consistent theme for Snowflake, which doesn’t name Databricks as a competitor in its financial filings.

Snowflake went on to say that it was working with Instacart to “optimize for efficiency,” a phrase that implies doing more with less, and that its technology is “used extensively by nearly every team within Instacart, including the catalog team, machine learning, ads, shoppers, retailers, customers, and logistics organizations.”

The post then highlights the usage figures from the filing footnote and claims that, “In some social media posts, payment schedules have been incorrectly conflated with actual usage to suggest a large decline in spending — this is not the case.”

In other words, if there’s a decline in spending, it’s not because we’re losing business to an unnamed company.

The good news for Snowflake is that the IPO process calls for multiple prospectus updates. Instacart, which is trying to unlock a tech IPO market that’s been largely frozen for 20 months, will get a chance to clear up the matter with investors very soon.

— CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian and Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

WATCH: Instacart files for IPO under ‘CART’ on Nasdaq