Databricks hits $100 billion valuation, raises $1B in funding to fuel AI push

Databricks has just crossed a milestone that only three other private companies in history have reached. The San Francisco-based data analytics giant is raising over $1 billion at a staggering $100 billion valuation, putting it in the same league as SpaceX, ByteDance, and OpenAI.

The Wall Street Journal first reported on the deal, and Databricks confirmed the funding on Tuesday, that the round is being co-led by Thrive Capital and its longtime backer, Insight Partners. It comes only months after the company’s record-setting $10 billion raise in January and lifts its total funding close to $20 billion.

“Databricks, a data-analytics software company, is finalizing a funding round that would value it at $100 billion, a 61% increase from its last funding round in December. Thrive Capital, Insight Partners and WCM Investment Management are set to co-lead the new round, according to people familiar with the matter. Andreessen Horowitz is also planning to put money into the company, the people said. Additional investors and other details, including the size of the round, haven’t been made final,” The Journal reported.

CEO Ali Ghodsi says the new infusion will fund two major investments: a new database designed for AI agents and an AI agent platform intended to complement its Lakehouse product.

“We’re building infrastructure that allows companies to use AI in production, not just in experiments,” Ghodsi told CNBC, adding that interest from investors surged following Figma’s blockbuster IPO last month. “My phone was blowing up.”

In January, Meta joined a $10 billion investment in Databricks as the startup prepared for a potential IPO, in a deal that pegged its valuation at $62 billion. That round, combined with the latest $1 billion raise, shows how much investor conviction has swelled around Databricks’ trajectory.

$1B Round Propels Databricks Into the $100 Billion Club

The timing shows how quickly momentum has built behind Databricks. In June, executives told investors the company was pacing $3.7 billion in annualized revenue with year-over-year growth topping 50%. That puts it just behind rival Snowflake, which is forecasting $4.5 billion in revenue this fiscal year with a slower growth rate of about 25%. Snowflake currently carries a market cap of $65 billion, highlighting how far ahead private investors are pricing Databricks.

Profitability means there’s no urgency to go public, but Ghodsi and his team are using this moment to prepare for a market many expect will define the next decade: databases optimized for AI. Their new project, internally dubbed “Lakebase,” is pitched as an AI-native database that could open a lucrative front in a sector dominated for decades by the likes of Oracle and Microsoft. Pairing it with a platform to support AI agents suggests Databricks wants to become indispensable for enterprises building around artificial intelligence.

Founded in 2013 by Ghodsi and fellow UC Berkeley researchers, Databricks has grown into a company of 8,000 employees. Its backers read like a who’s who of tech venture capital, including Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, Insight, and WCM Investment Management.

While public investors are still catching their breath from Figma’s volatile post-IPO swings, private markets are doubling down on bets like Databricks. Whether this fuels speculation of an eventual public debut remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: few companies are as well-positioned to ride the AI wave at enterprise scale.

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi