Marcin Żukowski
Co-founder, Snowflake · Scientist, Entrepreneur, Investor
Key facts
- Born in 1977 in Białystok, Poland. Studied for a year at Białystok University of Technology, then at the University of Warsaw and simultaneously in his final year at VU Amsterdam.
- Based on the results from his doctoral thesis, he founded the database company Vectorwise in the Netherlands. It was later acquired by an American investor.
- Co-founder of Snowflake, which specializes in cloud databases. The company debuted on the stock exchange at a valuation of $70 billion; as of September 2026, its market capitalization was approximately $100 billion.
- Withdrew from operational management of the company but remains a shareholder.
- Actively invests in Polish companies and supports the Polish startup ecosystem.
Biography
Marcin Żukowski is a Polish scientist and co-founder of Snowflake. A multi-award winner at scientific conferences, he holds master's degrees from the University of Warsaw and VU Amsterdam. Affiliated with CWI (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica), his PhD in databases – defended in the Netherlands – paved the way to founding his first company, Vectorwise, which he later sold to an American investor. He became a co-founder of Snowflake, although he initially told his future partners, Benoît Dageville and Thierry Cruanes, that he would not join them. The cloud database company ultimately debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020 at a valuation of approximately $70 billion. After leaving Snowflake, he actively supports the Polish startup ecosystem and invests in Polish companies (including Synerise).