Databricks hits $38bn valuation with $1.6bn Series H round

Data analytics and AI firm Databricks has landed a bumper $1.6 billion round of funding, which it plans to use to turbocharge adoption of its ‘lakehouse’ data management architecture.

The new injection brings its total funding to almost $3.6bn

The Series H funding round, led by Morgan Stanley’s Counterpoint Global, gives Databricks a $38 billion post-money valuation. Other new investors include Baillie Gifford, ClearBridge Investments and UC Investments.

Existing investors participating in the round include Andreessen Horowitz, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Fidelity Management & Research, Tiger Global Management and Whale Rock Capital Management.

This latest injection brings Databricks’ total funding to almost $3.6 billion and will be used to invest in AI development, enter new markets, grow its partner ecosystem and build out its portfolio of industry solutions.

Databricks’s ‘lakehouse’ solution is an open architecture for data and AI. The company says it aims to bring the reliability and governance of a data warehouse to the data lakes on which most organisations already store their data.

The San Francisco-based firm has also hired former Salesforce executive Andy Kofoid as president of global field operations to “accelerate innovation and adoption of the data lakehouse”.