What Realm does

Realm was a San Francisco-based mobile database company founded in 2011 that built an embedded object database optimized for mobile and edge applications. Its core product, the Realm Database, was a cross-platform SDK available for iOS, Android, React Native, and Xamarin, designed to deliver offline-first persistence and real-time data synchronization directly on-device. The technology differentiated itself from traditional SQLite and server-side database approaches by integrating the data layer directly into the application runtime, enabling developers to treat persisted objects as native language objects.

The company was venture-funded, raising approximately $40.2 million across a 2011 seed round (led by a syndicate including Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock, Khosla Ventures, and Y Combinator), a 2013 Series A of $7.1M, a 2015 Series B of $20M led by Khosla Ventures, and a late-stage 2018 round of roughly $11.2M. The business served mobile application developers through a developer-led, bottoms-up go-to-market motion; pricing was not publicly disclosed. Notable backers also included Scale Venture Partners and Ericsson Ventures.

In 2019, MongoDB acquired Realm for $39 million as part of its strategy to extend from server-side document databases into the mobile and edge segments. Following the acquisition, Realm's technology was rebranded as MongoDB Atlas Device SDKs. The standalone product line is now being deprecated by MongoDB, meaning Realm no longer operates as an independent commercial entity and its original GTM and revenue mechanics are no longer active.

Name

Realm

Legal name

Realm, Inc.

Website

https://realm.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Realm was a San Francisco mobile database company that built an embedded, offline-first object database SDK for iOS and Android apps. The company was acquired by MongoDB in 2019 for $39 million and is no longer independently operated.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Mobile Database Software

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Embedded / Edge Databases (HDAEAAAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Edge Storage & Data Management (Caching, Backup, Local Data Lakes) (HDABAOAD)

Keywords

• Mobile database
• Offline-first data sync
• Realtime synchronization
• Embedded object database
• Cross-platform mobile SDK

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Core offering

Realm provided a cross-platform mobile object database designed for offline-first application development, enabling persistent local data storage and real-time data synchronization across devices. The technology was delivered as an embeddable SDK for iOS, Android, and other platforms, and was later integrated into MongoDB's product portfolio under the Atlas Device SDKs umbrella.

Product overview

Realm operated as a mobile database company offering a cross-platform object database solution for mobile application development. The company was acquired by MongoDB in 2019 for approximately $39 million. The acquired Realm technology was subsequently integrated into MongoDB's product portfolio under the Atlas Device SDKs umbrella, though these SDKs are now being deprecated.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Realm Database A cross-platform mobile object database SDK designed for offline-first application development, enabling persistent local data storage and real-time data synchronization across iOS, Android, and other platforms. Targeted at mobile application developers and engineering teams building sync-heavy or distributed applications.

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• MongoDBcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMongoDB acquired Realm in 2019 for $39 million as part of its strategy to expand into mobile application development. This acquisition integrated Realm's mobile database technology into MongoDB's ecosystem, eventually leading to the rebranding of Realm technology as Atlas Device SDKs.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• WatermelonDB: WatermelonDB is a reactive database framework for React Native apps with built-in sync — an emerging open-source player in the offline-first mobile database space that directly addresses Realm's developer use case.
• PouchDB: PouchDB is an open-source JavaScript database that syncs with CouchDB-compatible servers, designed for offline-first browser and mobile apps — overlapping Realm's offline-first sync value proposition for JavaScript developers.
• Supabase: Supabase is an open-source Firebase alternative offering a real-time Postgres-based backend with strong offline support, increasingly competing in the same developer-tooling category that Realm pioneered for mobile and edge apps.
• ObjectBox: ObjectBox is a mobile-first NoSQL database and sync solution targeting edge and IoT, with a similar developer-focused, performance-oriented pitch to Realm and direct overlap in the embedded mobile database category.

Direct peers

• SQLite: SQLite is the dominant open-source embedded database used in virtually all iOS and Android applications, directly competing with Realm Database on in-app persistence — but without the object-oriented and sync layers Realm offered.
• Aerospike: Aerospike provides a high-performance real-time NoSQL database with edge and embedded deployment modes, positioning it as a competitor to Realm in performance-sensitive mobile and edge database scenarios.
• Core Data (Apple): Apple's first-party object graph management and persistence framework for iOS/macOS apps is the default embedded database on Apple platforms, directly competing with Realm Database for iOS developer mindshare.
• Couchbase: Couchbase offers Couchbase Lite, a purpose-built embedded NoSQL database for mobile and edge devices with built-in sync — directly overlapping Realm's offline-first mobile database positioning and target developer audience.

Broad incumbents

• MongoDB Atlas: MongoDB Atlas is the parent platform that absorbed Realm's technology; it is the broader cloud database incumbent in the NoSQL space and the most directly comparable broad incumbent to Realm's mobile-edge data sync capability.
• Firebase (Google): Google's Firebase provides a mobile and web application platform including Firestore, a real-time synced NoSQL database for mobile — a broad incumbent that competes with Realm on mobile data sync, leveraging Google's free-tier distribution.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/realm

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors13 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Realm