# Data build tool

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Data_build_tool
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Data_build_tool.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_build_tool
> Source revision: 1355036398
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

**Data build tool** (**dbt**) is an [open-source](/source/Open-source_software) command line tool that helps analysts and engineers [transform](/source/Data_transformation) data in their [warehouse](/source/Data_warehouse) more effectively.[2]

## History

It started at [RJMetrics](/source/RJMetrics) in 2016 as a solution to add basic transformation capabilities to Stitch (acquired by Talend in 2018).[3] The earliest versions of dbt allowed analysts to contribute to the data transformation process following the best practices of software engineering.[4]

From the beginning, dbt was open source.[5] In 2018, the dbt Labs team (then called Fishtown Analytics) released a commercial product on top of dbt Core.[6]

## Funding

In April 2020, dbt Labs announced its Series A led by [Andreessen Horowitz](/source/Andreessen_Horowitz).[7] In November, dbt Labs announced its Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz and [Sequoia](/source/Sequoia_Capital).[8] And in June 2021, dbt Labs raised its Series C led by [Altimeter](/source/Altimeter_Capital), Sequoia, and Andreessen Horowitz.[9] In February 2022, the company raised $222 million for its Series D, at a $4.2 billion valuation.[10] In October 2025, dbt Labs announced a definitive agreement to merge with Fivetran in an all-stock deal, with Fivetran CEO George Fraser to lead the combined company and dbt Labs founder Tristan Handy serving as president; the merger was pending regulatory approval as of 2026, with the combined entity projected to approach $600 million in annual recurring revenue.[11]

## Overview

Dbt enables analytics engineers to transform data in their warehouses by writing select statements, and turns these select statements into tables and views. Dbt does the transformation (T) in [extract, load, transform](/source/Extract,_load,_transform) (ELT) processes – it does not extract or load data, but is designed to be performant at transforming data already inside of a warehouse. Dbt has the goal of allowing analysts to work more like software engineers, in line with the dbt viewpoint.[12]

Dbt uses [YAML](/source/YAML) files to declare properties. seed is a type of [reference table](/source/Reference_table) used in dbt for static or infrequently changed data, like for example [country codes](/source/List_of_ISO_3166_country_codes) or [lookup tables](/source/Lookup_table)), which are [CSV](/source/Comma_separated_values) based and typically stored in a seeds [folder](/source/Directory_(computing)).

## References

1. ["Release dbt-core v1.10.11 · dbt-labs/dbt-core"](https://github.com/dbt-labs/dbt-core/releases/tag/v1.10.11). *GitHub*. Retrieved 9 September 2025.

1. Atwal, Harvinder (9 December 2019). [*Practical DataOps: Delivering Agile Data Science at Scale*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ADLDDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA223). Apress. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-4842-5104-1.

1. ["Stitch is joining Talend"](https://www.stitchdata.com/blog/stitch-is-joining-talend). Stitch Data. 2018-11-07. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107174227/https://www.stitchdata.com/blog/stitch-is-joining-talend/) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

1. ["Goodbye RJMetrics, Hello Fishtown Analytics"](https://blog.getdbt.com/goodbye-rjmetrics-hello-fishtown-analytics/). dbt Blog. 2016-08-01. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107174141/https://blog.getdbt.com/goodbye-rjmetrics-hello-fishtown-analytics/) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

1. Cai, Kenrick. ["Dbt Labs In Talks To Raise At $6 Billion Valuation, Six Months After Becoming A Unicorn"](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2021/12/15/dbt-labs-in-talks-to-raise-at-6-billion-valuation-six-months-after-becoming-a-unicorn/). *Forbes*. Retrieved 2023-04-01.

1. ["Sinter Release Notes, August 2018: pull request builder, fine-grained GitHub permissions, and more"](https://blog.getdbt.com/sinter-release-notes-august-2018-pull-request-builder-fine-grained-github-permissions-and-more/). 2018-07-31. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107174141/https://blog.getdbt.com/sinter-release-notes-august-2018-pull-request-builder-fine-grained-github-permissions-and-more/) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

1. ["Fishtown Analytics raises $12.9M Series A for its open-source analytics engineering tool"](https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/22/fishtown-analytics-raises-12-9m-series-a-for-its-open-source-analytics-engineering-tool/). TechCrunch. 2020-04-22. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107174139/https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/22/fishtown-analytics-raises-12-9m-series-a-for-its-open-source-analytics-engineering-tool/) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

1. ["Fishtown Analytics raises $29.5M Series B for its data engineering platform"](https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/11/fishtown-analytics-raises-29-5m-series-b-for-its-data-engineering-platform/). TechCrunch. 2020-11-11. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107174140/https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/11/fishtown-analytics-raises-29-5m-series-b-for-its-data-engineering-platform/) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

1. ["Of the Community, By the Community, For the Community"](https://blog.getdbt.com/of-the-community-by-the-community-for-the-community/). dbt Blog. 2021-06-30. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107215943/https://blog.getdbt.com/of-the-community-by-the-community-for-the-community/) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

1. Cai, Kenrick (24 Feb 2022). ["VENTURE CAPITAL Dbt Labs Raises At $4.2 Billion Valuation, $2 Billion Less Than First Planned"](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2022/02/24/dbt-labs-series-d-4-billion-less-than-planned/?sh=76c4dd1d67c3). *Forbes*. Forbes. [Archived](https://archive.today/20220511115331/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2022/02/24/dbt-labs-series-d-4-billion-less-than-planned/?sh=26c7c1cc67c3) 11 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 11 May 2022. The Philadelphia-based data analytics startup revealed Thursday that it had settled on a $4.2 billion valuation as part of a $222 million Series D funding round

1. ["Fivetran and dbt Labs Unite to Set the Standard for Open Data Infrastructure"](https://www.fivetran.com/press/fivetran-and-dbt-labs-unite-to-set-the-standard-for-open-data-infrastructure-2025). *Fivetran*. 2025-10-13. Retrieved 2026-05-19.

1. ["dbt viewpoint"](https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/about/viewpoint). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20211107174742/https://docs.getdbt.com/docs/about/viewpoint) 2021-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Data build tool](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_build_tool) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_build_tool?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.