Databricks nabs $10B in VC funding

This morning, I read The Wall Street Journal profile on Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, where they highlighted an interesting point: Databricks, now valued at $62 billion, gave their first product away for free. This strategy—offering a free product—has been a proven playbook for many startups. It can: ✅ Build credibility and brand recognition in a competitive market ✅ Establish valuable relationships with partners ✅ Facilitate upsell opportunities and shorten sales cycles That said, it’s not without trade-offs. A free offering can sometimes dilute focus or create false signals about product-market fit. At olive, we’re exploring this strategy. I’d love to hear from others: What are the most effective ‘free product wedges’ you’ve seen companies use to break into a market? What are the downsides you've seen?

Huge Databricks news yesterday. The company announced a $10 billion investment, led by Thrive Capital, marking one of the largest venture capital fundings ever. The company's now valued at $62 billion, and I had to catch up with CEO and cofounder Ali Ghodsi about raising capital, M&A, AI talent, and, yes, a possible IPO.

𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐭. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐈. 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫. All startups are dead. No—they’re not. Databricks is amazing and hats off to them for sure. But Databricks has been at it for years: → Smart pivots to stay ahead → Incredible talent at all levels → Relentless execution on ICP and delivering value Startups won't die and have an even bigger opportunity now but you won’t win in a year or two without the right people now. You need a team ready to go to battle with you. GRIND daily FOCUS deeply HUSTLE relentlessly EXECUTE But only with the right TALENT. The gap between the supply and demand for great talent is huge: → Everyone wants top-tier players → Few have evolved their talent strategy to compete → Not all teams are built to win Databricks isn’t just crushing it because they’re big—it’s about the people who built it. Talent is the ultimate game-changer. Without it, startups won’t survive the fight. If you need a partner to help you find and build that talent, don’t wait. It’s a Wednesday in December. Do you know where your top talent is? The right team changes everything. p.s. I’m passionate about emerging tech, GTM strategies, and helping startups build winning teams. If this resonates, I’d appreciate a like or comment! And feel free to share—it's ok. I promise. #AI #GTM #Leadership #Startups #Talent

Databricks is raising $10 billion in what is likely the largest venture round on record. The money will go toward hiring (both engineering and GTM), acquisitions, and international expansion, CEO Ali Ghodsi told me. That's in addition to buying current and former employee shares. For acquisitions, Databricks will be looking toward AI startups. “There’s lots of smart people out there with great ideas, but maybe monetization didn’t work out the way they had planned,” Ghodsi says. With Kate Clark ! https://lnkd.in/eUhmd4qn

Great coverage of the Databricks journey. First time I’ve seen the Conte Curve mentioned (in a public article)…

It is rare to find a company as ambitious as Databricks — Despite a valuation exceeding $60B, we believe it is still in the very early stages of its growth journey. Congratulations to Ali, Dave, and the entire Databricks team! We are thrilled to continue supporting the company's vision to empower every organization to unlock the full potential of its data.

Just speechless and beyond excited! These results speak for themselves 🙌🏼 Beyond proud to contribute to the success of one of the most iconic companies in history 🙏🏻

"Databricks, the Data and AI company, today announced its Series J funding. The company is raising $10 billion of expected non-dilutive financing and has completed $8.6 billion to date. This funding values Databricks at $62 billion and is led by Thrive Capital. Along with Thrive, the round is co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners and WCM Investment Management. Other significant participants include existing investor Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and new investors ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital and Wellington Management.   The company has seen increased momentum and accelerated growth (over 60% year-over-year) in recent quarters largely due to the unprecedented interest in artificial intelligence. To satisfy customer demand, Databricks intends to invest this capital towards new AI products, acquisitions, and significant expansion of its international go-to-market operations. In addition to fueling its growth, this capital is expected to be used towards providing liquidity for current and former employees, as well as pay related taxes. Finally, this quarter marks the first time the company is expected to achieve positive free cash flow.   “We were substantially oversubscribed with this round and are super excited to bring on some of the world’s most well-known investors who have a deep conviction in our vision. These are still the early days of AI. We are positioning the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to deliver long-term value for our customers and our team is committed to helping companies across every industry build data intelligence,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co-Founder and CEO of Databricks. “We’re building transformative data and AI infrastructure and excited to move aggressively in service of our customers and their success.”   The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform democratizes access to data and AI, making it easier for organizations to harness the power of their data for analytics, machine learning, and AI applications. Built on an open source foundation, the platform enables organizations 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..."

Incredibly excited to announce a close of our expected $10B Series J, led by the amazing team at Thrive Capital, including Vince Hankes and Avery Klemmer. Also thrilled to have new and old friends including Lihan Chen, Jay Pilkerton, John Wolff, George Mathew, David George, Alan Tu, CFA and Rahul Mehta co-leading the round and Victor Vandekerckhove, Nate Mitchell, Rick Prostko, Malik S. Nabulsi, Ali Osman, Michael Clarke, Kumar Gautam, Matthew Witheiler, Will Griffith, Kaz Yoshimaru, Robert Kaplan, Brett Rochkind, Sebastian Duesterhoeft, Bryan Gertzog and Colin Wu, among many others, as partners on our journey. Our recent financial results issued today also highlight the growing momentum around #data and #ai and for the #Databricks Data Intelligence Platform: * 60%+ YoY growth in our most recent quarter * Expecting to cross $3.0B+ revenue run-rate and be free cash flow positive this quarter * >500 companies consuming >$1M/year * >$600M revenue run-rate for Databricks SQL, the company's intelligent data warehousing product, up >150% YoY https://lnkd.in/grR53znz https://lnkd.in/g8ZCkpYq