Insider Brief
- Databricks, a Data and AI company, announced the closing of its Series I funding round, achieving a $43B post-money valuation.
- The round saw participation from existing investors like AWS and Microsoft, as well as new investors such as AT&T Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The funds will be used to accelerate Gen AI research and development and expand their AI data science and engineering team.
- CEO Ali Ghodsi emphasized the overwhelming investor interest and the strategic importance of generative AI for businesses. Databricks’ multicloud architecture is central to its strategy, enabling organizations to maintain privacy and control over their data across various cloud platforms, enhancing their ability to develop Gen AI solutions.
PRESS RELEASE — SAN FRANCISCO/November 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced additional closings of its recent Series I funding. Existing investors Amazon Web Services (AWS), CapitalG, and Microsoft, along with new investors AT&T Ventures, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and Sanabil Investments, participated in the funding round, which put the company at a $43B post-money valuation. The Series I funding will be used to accelerate the development of transformative AI technology, Gen AI research, and hiring AI data scientists and engineering talent.
“The interest we received from investors and strategic partners for this round of funding has been overwhelming, and we are excited to add AT&T and QIA, among others, who believe in our vision and business strategy,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Databricks. “Generative AI adoption is a top priority for every CEO today. Databricks’ multicloud architecture enables organizations to preserve privacy and control over their data when moving to AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure to build Gen AI solutions. With our partners, we can accelerate the development of our platform and deliver business value faster for our customers.”
The Databricks platform unifies data, analytics, and AI on a single platform so customers can govern, manage, and derive insights from enterprise data and build their generative AI solutions faster.
“As an early pioneer of AI, we know just how foundational this technology is to the future of business and society. For years AI has enabled our network, services, and people to be more efficient, effective, and creative. Our AT&T Ventures team fosters game-changing companies, like Databricks, that help drive connectivity innovation forward. Through our work with Databricks, we’ve seen first-hand the business value they provide and we’re excited to deepen our relationship with them as we help usher in a connected generative AI generation.” — Andy Markus, CDO, AT&T
“AI represents a profound technology shift, and our investment in Databricks reflects our belief in its platform, which is expertly able to unify data, analytics, and AI. This investment is aligned with QIA’s investment approach to invest in forward-looking, tech-led companies, many of which are building AI seamlessly into their product and offerings. We are pleased to be an investor in Databricks and look forward to a fruitful, long-term partnership as the company scales.” — Mohammed Al-Hardan, Head of Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) investments at QIA
AT&T Ventures, AWS, CapitalG, Microsoft, QIA, and Sanabil joined previously announced investors participating in the Series I funding, including Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Capital One Ventures, ClearBridge Investments, funds and accounts managed by Counterpoint Global (Morgan Stanley), Fidelity Management & Research Company, Franklin Templeton, Gaingels, Ghisallo Capital Management, GIC, NVIDIA, Octahedron Capital, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and Tiger Global.
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Comcast, Condé Nast, and over 50% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Lakehouse Platform to unify their data, analytics and AI. Founded by the original creators of Delta Lake, Apache Spark™, and MLflow, Databricks is on a mission to help data teams solve the world’s toughest problems. To learn more, follow Databricks on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Contact: Press@databricks.com
