AI startup Databricks raises $4B at a $134B valuation to expand its enterprise data and AI platform

Databricks just poured more fuel into the AI infrastructure race. The data and AI company announced a more than $4 billion Series L round that values the business at $134 billion, a sharp jump from its $100 billion valuation earlier this year. The raise cements Databricks as one of the most valuable private software companies in the world and highlights where investor conviction remains deep: the core data layer beneath enterprise AI.

The company has turned large-scale data management into a high-margin business at a moment when enterprises are moving from AI experiments to production systems. Databricks said it crossed a $4.8 billion revenue run rate in the third quarter, up more than 55% year over year. AI products alone now account for over $1 billion in annualized revenue, matched by a similar contribution from its data warehousing business. The company posted positive free cash flow across the past twelve months, a metric that has become a dividing line between durable AI businesses and speculative bets.

Databricks plans to channel the new capital into helping customers build what it calls “Data Intelligent Applications,” software that blends analytics, AI models, and proprietary enterprise data into operational systems. The strategy centers on three pillars: Lakebase as the system of record for transactional data, Databricks Apps as the application layer, and Agent Bricks to support multi-agent AI systems running on top of company data. The company says Lakebase has already reached thousands of customers within its first six months on the market, with revenue growing at twice the pace of its data warehousing product at a similar stage.

The round was led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, Blackstone, Coatue, GIC, MGX, NEA, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Robinhood Ventures, T. Rowe Price, Temasek, Thrive Capital, and Winslow Capital. Part of the funding will provide liquidity for employees, with the rest earmarked for AI research, talent retention, and potential acquisitions, as competition for data and AI expertise intensifies.

“Enterprises are rapidly reimagining how they build intelligent applications, and the convergence of generative AI with new coding paradigms is opening the door to entirely new workloads. With this investment, we’re deepening our commitment to help every organization innovate with AI on their own data,” said Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks. “By anchoring transactional data in Lakebase, delivering intuitive experiences through Databricks Apps, and enabling advanced multi-agent systems with Agent Bricks, we’re giving customers a unified foundation to build trusted, high-performance Data Intelligent Applications at scale.”

Investors see Databricks as one of the clearest beneficiaries of enterprise AI adoption. “Our continued investment in Databricks reflects our deep conviction in their extraordinary momentum today and their ambitious vision for the future,” said John Wolff, managing director at Insight Partners. “Databricks leads the way in turning AI innovation into enterprise impact. We’re thrilled to deepen our investment in a team that continues to pair strong financial performance with real customer results, setting the standard for how AI creates value for businesses. Databricks is just getting started.”

The scale of the round says as much about the market as it does about Databricks. Large enterprises continue to spend aggressively on modern data architectures, even as public markets remain cautious on tech valuations. Reuters reported that Databricks’ mix of rapid growth and cash discipline has set it apart in a late-stage landscape that now rewards execution over ambition alone. The company said the funding will support long-term research and help it hold onto scarce AI talent, a reminder that infrastructure may be software-driven, yet competition still comes down to people.

Founded in 2013 by Ghodsi and fellow researchers at UC Berkeley, Databricks now employs about 8,000 people. Its backers read like a shortlist of top-tier venture firms. As private capital continues to flow toward infrastructure companies that anchor enterprise AI, Databricks stands out as one of the clearest examples of where scale, revenue, and demand are aligning.

Databricks Team