Databricks acquires Panther Labs in cybersecurity push to take on CrowdStrike and Splunk

Databricks announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Panther Labs, a cybersecurity startup known for helping organizations collect, analyze, and act on security data at scale. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition comes as cybersecurity teams face a growing challenge: attackers are using AI to identify and exploit software vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed. Databricks believes the response is clear. If attackers are deploying AI agents, defenders need AI agents too.

“Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announces intent to acquire Panther, a leading AI SOC platform. The acquisition will advance the company’s vision for the security lakehouse, a new category of security software that is disrupting legacy SIEM with an agentic approach,” Databricks said in a statement.

The deal marks Databricks’ third cybersecurity acquisition and advances its efforts to compete with established security players such as CrowdStrike and Cisco-owned Splunk as enterprises look for new ways to defend against AI-powered threats. It also comes as enterprises look for new ways to manage growing volumes of security data and keep pace with threats that can spread in seconds.

Panther Labs built its platform around a simple idea: bring security data into one place and make it easier to detect and respond to threats. The company gained traction among cloud-native organizations and counts AI startup Anthropic among its customers.

The startup was valued at approximately $1.4 billion after raising $120 million in Series B funding in 2021.

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said the rise of AI has dramatically shortened the time between discovering a software vulnerability and exploiting it. That shift, he argued, is forcing companies to rethink how security operations work.

“If they’re going to attack you with agents, you have to defend with agents,” Ghodsi told Reuters during the company’s Data + AI Summit in San Francisco this week. “You have to fight fire with fire.”

The comments reflect a growing concern across the cybersecurity industry. Security teams are increasingly dealing with automated attacks, AI-generated phishing campaigns, and tools that can identify weaknesses across large software environments in a fraction of the time it takes with traditional methods.

‘Fight Fire With Fire’: Databricks Acquires Panther Labs to Defend Against AI-Powered Cyberattacks

For Databricks, the acquisition is about more than adding another product. The company has spent the past several years building out a platform that combines data, analytics, machine learning, and AI. Security is becoming a larger piece of that strategy.

In March, Databricks introduced Lakewatch, a security-focused offering that signaled its intent to compete more directly in the cybersecurity market. Bringing Panther Labs into the fold gives the company a stronger position in security operations and threat detection, areas long dominated by specialized vendors.

The deal has roots that stretch back several years. Ghodsi said he first met Panther founder and CEO Jack Naglieri in 2021 and floated the idea of an acquisition.

“He wanted to continue going alone,” Ghodsi said. “That was a good idea for him because his valuation has been going up since then and he’s built an awesome platform.”

The timing looks very different today. AI has become a central priority for enterprise software buyers, and cybersecurity has emerged as one of the biggest battlegrounds. Companies are racing to build systems that can detect threats, investigate incidents, and respond with minimal human intervention.

At a reported valuation of $134 billion, Databricks is already one of the world’s most valuable private technology companies. The Panther acquisition adds another piece to its growing AI and data empire and underscores a larger trend reshaping the security industry: the future of cybersecurity may belong to AI agents fighting AI agents.