Databricks Mops Up $15 Billion to Draw AI Talent

Databricks, the Data and AI company, has announced the final closing of its $10 billion Series J funding in which existing investor Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, along with new investors including Temasek and entities administered by Macquarie Capital, participated in the funding round, which values the company at $62 billion.

Databricks plans to invest this capital toward new AI products, acquisitions, and expansion of its international go-to-market operations. This capital is also expected to be used toward providing liquidity for current and former employees and paying related taxes.

In addition to raising the $10 billion equity financing from some of the most well-known investors, Databricks also closed a $5.25 billion credit facility led by JPMorgan Chase alongside Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley, with participation from other leading financial institutions and alternative asset managers. The credit facility includes a $2.5 billion unfunded revolver and a $2.75 billion term loan.

Besides, Meta has joined as a new strategic investor. Databricks plans to invest this capital toward new AI products, acquisitions, and expansion of its international go-to-market operations. This capital is also expected to be used toward providing liquidity for current and former employees and paying related taxes.

More than 10,000 organisations worldwide including Block, Comcast, Condé Nast, Rivian, Shell and over 60% of the Fortune 500 rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to take control of their data and put it to work with AI.

Overwhelming Interest

Ali Ghodsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Databricks, said that they received overwhelming interest in the latest funding round from both new and existing investors and strategic partners who believe in their vision and market impact. These partners are focused on the long-term success of Databricks and our rapidly growing customer base.

He added: “Organisations are modernising their data and AI infrastructure because they recognise the immense potential of generative AI. Data intelligence is critical to both unlocking this potential and to helping enterprises reach their business goals,” Ghodsi added.

The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform democratises access to data and AI, making it easier for organisations to harness the power of their data for analytics, machine learning, and AI applications. Built on an open source foundation, the platform enables companies to drive innovation to increase revenue, lower costs, and reduce risk.

Customers use the Data Intelligence Platform to find and treat diseases and cancer earlier, identify new ways to combat climate change, detect financial fraud, develop pharmaceuticals faster, reduce time to mental health intervention, decrease local financial inequality and much more.

QIA’s CEO Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi said that they were excited to deepen their commitment to Databricks through this follow-on investment, underscoring QIA’s strong conviction in the company’s leadership and strategic positioning.

Al-Sowaidi also said that they were expanding QIA’s exposure across the AI ecosystem and believe Databricks has become the leading platform within the AI infrastructure software space.