Attic Labs joined Salesforce's Quip team after its database stalled before a Series B

Attic Labs had raised an $8.1 million Series A for Noms, a decentralized database built around collaboration. Nearly 18 months later, it had not raised a Series B, and little evidence of monetization was publicly available.

Instead of continuing as a standalone database company, Attic Labs was acquired by Salesforce and its team joined Quip, the collaboration platform Salesforce had bought in 2016. The acquisition price was not disclosed.

Attic said the software powering Noms would remain open source, but told developers it had no immediate plans for additional work. The technology's next job was inside Quip, where it was intended to connect live data sources and help people collaborate faster and more effectively.

Attic Labs joined Quip; Noms stayed open source while its technology became a way for Quip to connect live data sources and improve collaboration.

The absence of a Series B after 18 months narrowed the path for funding a standalone product.

Quip offered an adjacent collaboration platform where Noms's live-data capability could be used immediately.

Keeping Noms open source preserved developer access while Salesforce redirected the team toward product integration.

When standalone monetization is weak, an acquisition can give infrastructure a larger product surface while preserving the technology's open-source value.

Salesforce did not disclose the acquisition terms. Attic Labs became Salesforce's first known acquisition of 2018, its team moved into Quip, and Noms remained open source even as Attic said there were no immediate plans for more work. The standalone startup became an embedded capability inside a larger collaboration product.