Databricks announces $15B in financing to attract top AI talent and accelerate global expansion
Databricks the Data and AI company announced the final closing of its Series J funding. Existing investor QIA, the sovereign wealth fund of the State 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. In addition, 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.
In addition to raising the $10 billion equity financing from some of the most well-known investors, Databricks 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.
“We received overwhelming interest in this round from both new and existing investors and strategic partners who believe in our vision and market impact. These partners are focused on the long-term success of Databricks and our rapidly growing customer base,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Databricks. “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.”
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 organisations 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.
“We are excited to deepen our commitment to Databricks through this follow-on investment, underscoring our strong conviction in the company’s leadership and strategic positioning,” said Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of QIA. “At QIA, we are expanding our exposure across the AI ecosystem and believe Databricks has become the leading platform within the AI infrastructure software space.”
