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Databricks, provider of the leading Unified Analytics Platform and founded by the team who created Apache Spark™, today announced it has secured $140 million in a Series D funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Battery Ventures also participated. The new funding brings Databricks’ total capital raised to $247 million, and will accelerate the company’s investment in making Artificial Intelligence (AI) achievable for enterprise organizations with its Unified Analytics Platform.
“AI has enormous promise but also a 1% problem. Less than 10 companies in the world are achieving the full potential of AI and the rest are really struggling. Databricks’ mission is to simplify AI and bring it to the other 99% of enterprise organizations,” said Ali Ghodsi, cofounder and CEO of Databricks. “This funding will enable us to expand our offering and bring it to many more markets, enabling more businesses to reap the benefits of Big Data and AI.”
With the most recent market estimates predicting global AI revenue will reach $36.8 billion by 20251, the opportunity for Databricks and its customers is undeniable. While almost every business is exploring how they can use artificial intelligence for competitive advantage, very few are able to do so effectively today. Getting from big data to AI can be both complex and costly. With its Unified Analytics Platform, Databricks is successfully eliminating barriers to make data science and artificial intelligence approachable to a broader audience across both enterprise and midmarket organizations.
“If you want to build competitive advantage using Artificial Intelligence and you are not Google or Facebook, Databricks is essential. We’ve looked at every solution on the market and nothing else comes close,” said Ben Horowitz, cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “We could not be more excited to continue to invest in Ali Ghodsi and the Databricks team.”
Building on the tremendous adoption of its Unified Analytics Platform, Databricks will use this funding to:
• Increase product investment in its Unified Analytics Platform, which accelerates innovation by unifying data science, data engineering and business;
• Accelerate its global growth strategy;
• Expand its markets through industry-specific solutions for a range of industries including Healthcare & Life Sciences, Financial Services, Government, and Media & Entertainment, and;
• Grow its engineering and customer success teams that deliver world-class Spark expertise and global support for Databricks’ leading Spark-based cloud platform.
“The Databricks team drives the ubiquitous Apache Spark project and other related platforms underlying the most advanced enterprise analytics on the market today,” said Dharmesh Thakker, general partner at Battery Ventures, a new investor in Databricks. “Databricks’ thought leadership and community presence allows the company to stand out in today’s crowded market of artificial intelligence vendors. We’re fully behind their mission and growth strategy and look forward to helping them in their next stage of rapid growth.”
“Databricks is truly succeeding in its mission to bring the power of artificial intelligence to the enterprise,” said Pete Sonsini, NEA general partner and head of the firm’s enterprise investing practice. “The company’s Unified Analytics Platform is helping enterprises of all shapes and sizes accelerate data insight, and we’re thrilled to continue partnering with the company as they grow their business and brand.”
In addition to Battery Ventures, other new investors that participated in this funding round included Future Fund Investment Co., A.Capital Partners, Geodesic Capital and Green Bay Ventures.
About Databricks
Databricks’ mission (databricks.com) is to accelerate innovation for its customers by unifying Data Science, Engineering and Business. Founded by the team who created Apache Spark™, Databricks provides a Unified Analytics Platform for data science teams to collaborate with data engineering and lines of business to build data products. Users achieve faster time-to-value with Databricks by creating analytic workflows that go from ETL and interactive exploration to production. The company also makes it easier for its users to focus on their data by providing a fully managed, scalable, and secure cloud infrastructure that reduces operational complexity and total cost of ownership. Databricks, venture-backed by Andreessen Horowitz, NEA and Battery Ventures, among others, has a global customer base that includes Salesforce, Viacom, Shell and HP.
© Databricks 2017. All rights reserved. Apache, Apache Spark and Spark are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation.
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