# Snowflake to Acquire Natoma — MCP Gateway and Governance Layer for AI Agents, Sixth Snowflake Acquisition Since June 2025

> Snowflake bolts an MCP governance layer onto Cortex by acquiring two-year-old Natoma.

- Org: Snowflake
- Date: 2026-05-27
- Category: tool, ecosystem
- Source: https://www.snowflake.com/en/news/press-releases/snowflake-announces-intent-to-acquire-natoma-providing-secure-connectivity-for-the-agentic-enterprise/
- Canonical page: https://ai-tldr.dev/releases/snowflake-natoma-acquisition/

## In short

Snowflake signs definitive agreement to buy Natoma, an MCP gateway startup founded in 2024 with a ~$7M seed. The gateway will plug into Snowflake Intelligence and Cortex Code to enforce identity, policy, and audit on every agent tool call.

## What it is

Natoma sells an enterprise gateway that sits in front of MCP servers and enforces identity verification, access policies, and audit at the tool-call level. The company was founded in 2024 by Pratyus Patnaik, Will Potter, Zachary Hart, and Paresh Bhaya, raised ~$7M in a May 2025 seed round, and has roughly 20–27 employees.

## How it works

Snowflake plans to wire Natoma's MCP Gateway into Snowflake Intelligence and Cortex Code so that Cortex Agents can act on enterprise apps, databases, APIs, and tools through a vetted MCP server library, with identity-aware permissions and a full audit trail of who triggered which action. Snowflake says it has already deployed Natoma internally for email management and cross-platform search. Terms were not disclosed; closing is subject to customary conditions.

## Why it matters

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy frames the deal as 'agents don't just need access to data — they need the right context, permissions and policy guardrails to operate safely.' This is Snowflake's sixth acquisition since June 2025 and slots into a fast-growing market where SaaS vendors are racing to be the trusted MCP control plane for enterprise agents.

## Links

- [Press Release](https://www.snowflake.com/en/news/press-releases/snowflake-announces-intent-to-acquire-natoma-providing-secure-connectivity-for-the-agentic-enterprise/)
- [Snowflake Blog](https://www.snowflake.com/en/blog/snowflake-acquire-natoma-governed-agentic-access/)
- [The Register](https://www.theregister.com/ai-ml/2026/05/28/snowflake-buys-natoma-to-help-freeze-out-rogue-agents/5248062)
- [CIO Coverage](https://www.cio.com/article/4178160/snowflake-to-acquire-mcp-focused-natoma-to-boost-governance-for-ai-agents.html)