3 min read
The team behind Gel Data is joining Vercel to help us invest in the Python ecosystem. Led by Python core developer Yury Selivanov and contributor Elvis Pranskevichus, they will bring world-class support for Python on the AI Cloud.
Link to headingA commitment to the Python community
Python is one of the most widely used programming languages in the world, powering complex backends, ML pipelines, data infrastructure, and increasingly, AI. Our customers want strong Python support on Vercel, and as we continue to build the AI Cloud, we want Python to be better for everyone. So we're investing in the ecosystem itself:
Python Software Foundation Sponsorship: We're joining as a Maintaining-level sponsor, which includes presence at PyCon US and support for the PSF's mission to advance the Python language and community.
Sponsoring a Python core maintainer: We're committing to sponsor Serhiy Storchaka for one year through the Python Software Foundation. Serhiy is one of the top three Python core developers by commits over the past decade, with contributions spanning the core interpreter, standard library improvements, and performance optimizations.
Conference and community support: We're committing to sponsor key Python conferences and local meetups, helping ensure the community has the resources and spaces to gather, build, and learn. We're planning our first Vercel + Python hackathon in San Francisco in February. Details are coming soon, so keep an eye out on our events calendar.
Python gave me a career, my best friends, and an amazing community. Helping the next generation ship faster is how I give back, and Vercel has the vision, team, and resources to actually make it a reality.
Link to headingThe team behind uvloop and asyncpg
Yury is the creator of uvloop, the high-performance event loop for Python that's downloaded 3 million times per day. It's the foundation beneath FastAPI and many other Python applications that need speed and reliability. He also contributed async/await syntax to Python along with seven other Python enhancement proposals (PEPs) and influenced the design of asyncio since before it was part of the Python standard library.
Elvis and Yury also created asyncpg, the PostgreSQL library that's deeply embedded in the Python ecosystem.
Together, they've spent years pushing the ecosystem forward for developers worldwide. They'll continue contributing to open source Python projects while helping us build strong support for Python developers on Vercel.
Link to headingWhat this means for Vercel
As we continue building infrastructure for the next generation of web applications and AI agents, we're expanding beyond our JavaScript and TypeScript roots.
Over the coming months, we'll be investing in Python support across Vercel. This includes:
Improving Python framework support
Making Python deployment as simple and fast as it is for JavaScript frameworks
Contributing back to the tools and libraries the community relies on
We're taking a "building in public" approach. As we ship improvements to Python support on Vercel, we'll share what we're learning and how we're approaching these problems. We also want to hear your feedback as we go. This is just the beginning, and we can’t wait to see what Yury, Elvis, and the team will build.
Gel Data, the Postgres-based data platform, will wind down on January 31, 2026. We're not commercializing the platform, but the open source components will remain available. This acquisition is focused on Python expertise and community investment, not entering the database market. We partner with excellent database providers via the Vercel Marketplace, and we have no plans for that to change.
Building the future of Python at Vercel is a natural fit because we share the same bedrock commitment to elegant tooling, no-fuss hosting, and a commitment to the OSS community. We aimed to challenge the state of the art when we founded MagicStack and then Gel, and we will continue to push the envelope with this new support.
Link to headingBuilding for the long term
This is the first step in our commitment to Python. We're here to contribute to the ecosystem, support the people who make it great, and help make Python more powerful.
We believe the best infrastructure is built on open foundations. Whether it's JavaScript frameworks like Next.js, Nuxt, and SvelteKit, or now Python tools and libraries, our role is to support what developers already love and make it better.
We're honored to welcome Yury, Elvis, and the Gel Data team to Vercel. And we're excited to start building with the Python community. For the open web.
Learn more:
Disclosure: An investment fund associated with Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch held a passive investment in Gel Data. This acquisition was approved by an independent M&A Committee of Vercel's board of directors, which did not include Mr. Rauch.