Databricks Raises Massive $500M-Plus Series I At $43B Valuation

AI-enhanced data analytics company Databricks has raised more than $500 million in a Series I led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates.

The deal values the company at $43 billion, a boost from the $38 billion valuation San Francisco-based Databricks received after raising a $1.6 billion Series H led by Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global in 2021.

Databricks creates tools and products to help companies view both structured and unstructured data in a single location without moving between different systems.

New investors in the round include chip-making giant Nvidia — which has been busy of late investing in AI startups — Capital One Ventures and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. Existing investors participating in the new round included Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, ClearBridge Investments, funds and accounts managed by Counterpoint Global, Fidelity Management & Research Co., Franklin Templeton, GIC, Octahedron Capital and Tiger Global.

“The commitment from long-term focused strategic and financial partners reflects Databricks’ continued momentum, the rapid customer adoption of the Databricks Lakehouse, and the success customers are seeing from moving to a unified data and AI platform,” Databricks co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi said in a release. “Databricks and Nvidia are building transformative AI technology, and we’re excited about the business value and innovation we can bring to our customers.”

Milestones

The new round does not come as a surprise, but it does go against a couple of current trends: companies having to lower valuations in order to raise cash, or companies not being able to raise large growth rounds at all.

However, Databricks was one of the world’s most valuable private companies even before this new round, and is often mentioned in IPO predictions. It seems that an IPO will have to wait now that the company’s coffers are flush with fresh capital.

The company also has recently passed some impressive financial milestones, including surpassing the $1.5 billion revenue run rate at more than 50% revenue year-to-year growth during the second quarter ended July 31. Databricks said it ended that quarter with more than 10,000 global customers.

The company has openly talked about surpassing a milestone of $1 billion in annual revenue.

Databricks also made a huge acquisition in June, buying OpenAI competitor MosaicML for $1.3 billion.

Since being founded in 2013, Databricks has raised more than $4 billion, per Crunchbase.