Databricks

Databricks is an American software company founded by the creators of Apache Spark. Databricks develops a web-based platform for working with Spark that provides automated cluster management and IPython-style notebooks. Key executives include CEO Ali Ghodsi and Executive Chair Ion Stoica. Competitors include cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services, Azure and Google Cloud, as well as other data and analytics companies like Snowflake and Cloudera.

Recent Articles about Databricks

Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy via Getty

Snowflake, Databricks Discuss AI Data Security Deals With Google, Anthropic

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 11, 2025 8:00am PDT

After Sridhar Ramaswamy became CEO of database provider Snowflake a year ago, customers such as banks and healthcare firms said they might move their business elsewhere because they felt they couldn’t safely access artificial intelligence from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google through Snowflake’s core product. Some customers considered switching to... After Sridhar Ramaswamy became CEO of database provider Snowflake a year ago, customers such as...

Art by Clark Miller. Ma screenshot via YouTube.

Databricks, Snowflake Discussed Buying Same AI Search Startup

By Kevin McLaughlin, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Jan 3, 2025 8:33am PST

Databricks and Snowflake, already embroiled in a fierce rivalry over software that manages companies’ data, are now jockeying for position in generative artificial intelligence—particularly AI that helps businesses search their own data. Those goals have led both companies to consider buying the same startups. In recent weeks,... Databricks and Snowflake, already embroiled in a fierce rivalry over software that manages...

Photo by Getty

The Under-the-Radar Investors That Wrote Massive Checks to Databricks

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 17, 2024 3:31pm PST

Many of the investment firms that wrote some of the largest checks into Databricks’ record-smashing $10 billion fundraising haul announced Tuesday are among the tech world’s best known venture names, such as Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital and Insight Partners.Then there’s an investment giant that is expected to wire at least $300 million to... Many of the investment firms that wrote some of the largest checks into Databricks’...

Databricks office in San Francisco. Photo by Getty

Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, SoftBank to Invest in Databricks’ $7 Billion Fundraising

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Cory Weinberg · Dec 11, 2024 5:54pm PST · 1 comment

Databricks office in San Francisco. Photo by Getty

Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, SoftBank to Invest in Databricks’ $7 Billion Fundraising

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Cory Weinberg · Dec 11, 2024 5:54pm PST · 1 comment

Silicon Valley investors often pride themselves on writing one of the first few checks in a startup, then doubling down if a winner takes off. But Databricks, an 11-year-old seller of databases and analytics software that’s raising billions of dollars, has prompted some elite investment firms to place a few very late bets as well. Kleiner... Silicon Valley investors often pride themselves on writing one of the first few checks in a...

When Databricks Will Be As Big as Snowflake; A Sleeper Fintech IPO Candidate

When Databricks Will Be As Big as Snowflake; A Sleeper Fintech IPO Candidate

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 3, 2024 3:42pm PST · 2 comments

Ali Ghodsi is taking aim at giants. The Databricks CEO is no longer just sniping at $60 billion competitor Snowflake, but has ambitions for his company to be as big as $300 billion Salesforce, according to Jon Victor’s profile on the everywhere-at-once computer science professor. Reading the piece, I couldn’t help but think about the... Ali Ghodsi is taking aim at giants. The Databricks CEO is no longer just sniping at $60 billion...

Ali Ghodsi. Art by Clark Miller. Screenshots via YouTube.

Databricks’ ‘Truth-Seeking’ CEO Wants to Be Bigger Than Salesforce

By Jon Victor · Dec 2, 2024 6:00am PST · 1 comment

New managers acclimating to life at data analytics software firm Databricks are often shocked when CEO Ali Ghodsi calls up one of their team members out of the blue to question them about a product they’re working on. Or drops into a low-level meeting unannounced. Or phones the data scientists working for a customer. For Ghodsi, it’s... New managers acclimating to life at data analytics software firm Databricks are often shocked...

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi and ServiceTitan CEO Ara Mahdessian. Photos via Flickr and ServiceTitan.

Databricks’ $8 Billion Ask; ServiceTitan IPO Winners

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 19, 2024 3:00pm PST · 2 comments

Good afternoon from Las Vegas, where I’m writing this newsletter from a hotel room with a Strip view of the Encore, the hotel where bankers, investors and tech executives will slide from meeting to meeting at Goldman Sachs’ annual private tech confab. Say hi if you’re there. (I’ll be one of the many bald guys roaming around, but I’m younger than... Good afternoon from Las Vegas, where I’m writing this newsletter from a hotel room with a Strip...

Photo via Getty

An Inside Round for Accel; What's Next for Databricks

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 12, 2024 3:21pm PST

Photo via Getty

An Inside Round for Accel; What's Next for Databricks

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 12, 2024 3:21pm PST

Venture capital firms have a lot of money to invest but relatively few maturing startups have proven their worth. So firms are doubling down on the startups they see as winners—which is sending valuations soaring, sometimes in just a few months.The latest example: Cyera, a cloud cybersecurity firm, is finalizing a deal to raise new funding from... Venture capital firms have a lot of money to invest but relatively few maturing startups have...

Databricks CEO, Ali Ghodsi. Photo via Getty.

Databricks Considers Raising Cash to Resolve Employee Stock Squeeze

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 12, 2024 9:45am PST · 3 comments

Enterprise software firm Databricks, one of the world’s most valuable private tech companies, is considering raising several billion dollars in the coming months to allow employees to cash out stock grants that begin to expire in early 2026. Such a move would signal that the firm, whose business of data management software has gotten a... Enterprise software firm Databricks, one of the world’s most valuable private tech...

The People in Charge at Databricks as It Moves Toward a Potential IPO

By Akash Pasricha · Jul 24, 2024 10:04am PDT · 1 comment

Seven data scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, founded Databricks in 2013 to build a business around open-source software for data storage and analysis. As the company nears a possible initial public offering 11 years later, Databricks can boast a rare feat for startups its age: Nearly all of its co-founders still work there.... Seven data scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, founded Databricks in 2013 to...

The San Francisco Databricks office. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images.

Databricks Has an Edge on Snowflake—but It May Not Be as Big as Investors Think

By Anita Ramaswamy · Jun 21, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

It may not be on the scale of Apple’s rivalry with Google, but the battle between Databricks and Snowflake is one of the most intense in Silicon Valley. Both firms help companies store and manage massive amounts of data—a service that should become more valuable with the rise of generative AI models. Their duel has become so intense... It may not be on the scale of Apple’s rivalry with Google, but the battle between...

Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering. Screenshot via Apple.

Apple Eyes Deals with Google and Anthropic After OpenAI; Apple Grades Its LLMs While Databricks Grades AI Usage

By Amir Efrati · Jun 11, 2024 7:00am PDT

Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering. Screenshot via Apple.

Apple Eyes Deals with Google and Anthropic After OpenAI; Apple Grades Its LLMs While Databricks Grades AI Usage

By Amir Efrati · Jun 11, 2024 7:00am PDT

On a basic level, none of the artificial intelligence Apple announced on Monday came as a surprise. But there's a big difference between a news report describing what Apple is going to launch and seeing the finished product, and in that regard Apple delivered a cogent presentation that put Google's sprawling AI keynote from May to shame.Also, as... On a basic level, none of the artificial intelligence Apple announced on Monday came as a...

Databricks headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by Tada Images/Adobe Stock.

Why the AI Hyperrealists at Databricks Spent $10 Million to Beat Meta’s LLM

By Amir Efrati · Mar 27, 2024 7:05am PDT · 1 comment

Perhaps no executive in the artificial intelligence field has gone to greater lengths to knock down generative AI hype quite like Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi. A year ago, that looked like sour grapes as OpenAI’s quick progress made many people think that software tools like those Databricks sells to companies to manage data and utilize AI would... Perhaps no executive in the artificial intelligence field has gone to greater lengths to knock...