Databricks Raises $5 Billion at $190 Billion Valuation Amid AI Frenzy
Databricks has closed a fresh $5 billion strategic financing at a $190 billion valuation, as the AI company surpassed a $7 billion revenue run-rate, growing more than 80% year over year in its fiscal second quarter.
Coatue led the round with participation from Blackstone, MGX, accounts advised by T. Rowe Price, and new backer Sixth Street Growth.
The fresh capital will go toward building out Lakebase, Genie, and Unity AI Gateway — products it positions as core infrastructure for deploying AI agents inside large organizations.
Databricks CEO: ‘This Round Shows Our Strategy Works’
Lakebase, a serverless Postgres database designed for AI-agent workloads, has surpassed a $100 million revenue run-rate. The company also generated positive adjusted free cash flow over the past 12 months. Its Lakehouse data warehousing product reached a $1.5 billion revenue run rate and grew more than 100% year over year.
Databricks added that more than 1,000 customers are now consuming at an annual rate above $1 million, and more than 100 are consuming at an annual rate above $10 million.
"Enterprises don’t just want AI that talks. They want agents working across their business that remember context, deliver accurate answers, and execute work without blowing through their budgets," said Ali Ghodsi, Co-founder and CEO of Databricks. "That requires real-time operational data with Lakebase, context from across the business with Genie, and multi-AI cost controls with Unity AI Gateway. The tremendous investor demand for this round shows that our AI strategy is winning the market and building what every business needs to maximize their impact with agents."
Fighting Fire With Fire
Databricks is known as a cloud-based data intelligence platform. For Thomas Laffont, Coatue’s co-founder, Databricks became a key layer for building and scaling AI.
"What stands out most is the pace: they’ve compressed R&D timelines that used to take years into months, more like a research lab than a typical software company," Laffont said.
Databricks said other new investors in the round include BOND, Clearlake Capital, Point72, Premji Invest, and TPG. Existing backers include Andreessen Horowitz, Dragoneer, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton and GIC.
In June, the San Francisco-based company acquired Panther Labs for an undisclosed price, as it looks to expand the company’s footprint in cybersecurity.
At Databricks’ Data + AI Summit in San Francisco, Ghodsi argued that AI has accelerated how quickly attackers can turn software flaws into real intrusions and said older alert-and-log workflows were "dead."
"If they’re going to attack you with agents, you have to defend with agents," Ghodsi told Reuters. "You have to fight fire with fire."
Despite operating for 13 years, Databricks has repeatedly delayed an IPO, choosing instead to raise private funding and facilitate secondary share sales. Ghodsi told investors that the company remains on track for an IPO, potentially as early as next year.
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