GitLab Inc., a U.S. provider of cloud-based software development tools backed by Google parent Alphabet, is exploring a sale after attracting acquisition interest. The company, which has a market cap of approximately $8 billion, is reportedly working with investment bankers to evaluate potential offers. Among the interested parties is Datadog Inc., a cloud monitoring firm with a market cap of $44 billion. Talks are in the early stages, and no deal is certain at this point. Alphabet holds a 22.2% stake in GitLab. GitLab's stock surged 15%, including a 14.6% pre-market increase, following the news.