DBtune: Automating Databases with Trust and Impact

When it comes to enterprise databases, the work is still surprisingly manual. Performance tuning requires experts, time, and constant attention. Many companies compensate by overprovisioning hardware, which is expensive and inefficient. DBtune is changing that. We sat down with founder Luigi Nardi to hear how the company uses AI to automate tuning without compromising trust.

Can you explain what DBtune does?

- Sure. DBtune uses agentic AI to automatically tune database performance in production. The goal isn’t to replace database experts, but to free them from repetitive work so they can focus on higher-value problems. It reduces infrastructure costs, improves performance, and continuously optimizes systems without manual intervention.

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Why did you start the company?

- Databases are critical, yet most organizations don’t actively manage performance. Teams often overprovision hardware because tuning feels risky. From a research perspective, it was clear this work could be automated safely. But the bigger challenge wasn’t technical — it was earning trust.

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Agentic AI sounds bold. How did customers react at first?

- At the beginning, letting an AI agent make changes in production was controversial, especially in high risk industries such as banking. But databases are dynamic systems. Static rules fail over time, and agents that can observe and adapt are simply better. Today, as agent-based tools gain acceptance, the approach feels less radical — but we were early movers. A key advantage for us is that our agents are custom-built specifically for databases, enabling them to solve non-generic problems. These proprietary models are not simply wrappers for ChatGPT, an approach that ensures they operate safely within production environments.

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Trust seems central. How do you build it?

- We focus on transparency. Customers see what the system is doing, and the measurable impact. We support on-prem and air-gapped deployments and just achieved our SOC 2 Type II certification. In enterprise environments, trust isn’t optional — it’s a prerequisite.

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Tell us about the team.

- We’re 13 people, mostly in Malmö, Sweden, with team members in Colombia, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. A third of the company are PhD-level researchers. Research isn’t separate from product; it feeds directly into solving customer problems and shaping our roadmap.

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What was your own journey like as a founder?

- I left a tenured  professorship to commercialize my research, which included 50 published papers from Stanford, Imperial College, and Lund University. Early on, a few important enterprise deals forced the team to scale fast — hiring, legal, sales leadership — and it was intense. But it also accelerated our learning.

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Do you use AI internally as well?

- Yes. It helps with software development, design, communication, marketing, sales, and low-risk legal matters. It mirrors our product: automation removes friction and frees expert time for higher-value work.

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What’s next for DBtune?

- We’re focused on scaling internationally, strengthening customer support, expanding content and conference presence, and recruiting top PostgreSQL and machine learning talent. We anticipate our next  fundraise to support growth. The aim is simple: help enterprise teams adopt automation safely and effectively.

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How do you want DBtune to be seen?

- As a company that combines technical rigor with pragmatism. We’re not chasing hype. We quietly improve critical systems and give experts their time back. That’s the impact we care about.

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About DBtune

DBtune is a Stanford University spin-off founded by Dr. Luigi Nardi, a machine learning professor, who spent 8 years developing optimization algorithms to tackle complex real-world problems ranging from hardware design to robotics and computer vision. DBtune's core technology delivers faster queries, significant cost savings, and a reduced environmental footprint for businesses across the globe.

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About Minc

Minc is Malmö's leading growth engine and the driving force behind Southern Sweden's innovation economy. Home to Fast Track Malmö, Skåne Ventures, and a portfolio spanning more than 40 nationalities, Minc has turned some of the region's most ambitious founders into world-class companies. Founded in 2002 and owned by the City of Malmö.  minc.se