Databricks said it raised $5 billion in a private round that pushes the company's valuation to $190 billion. Co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi told TechCrunch that unexpected press coverage during a June conference dramatically increased investor interest and forced the company to expand its planned raise.
How the oversubscription happened
Ghodsi said the company initially intended to raise $1 billion, but a story in The Information during a June conference triggered a flood of investor calls. He estimated that from the select group of investors they considered, about $15 billion of interest materialized. Faced with that level of demand and the risk of upsetting long-term backers by turning some away, Databricks chose to issue more shares.
Who participated and prior disclosure
Databricks said the $5 billion round was led by Coatue and included participants such as Blackstone, MGX, various accounts associated with arms of T. Rowe Price, and new investor Sixth Street Growth (the firm founded by former Goldman Sachs chief investment officer Alan Waxman). The company named roughly two dozen VCs as participants.
In July the company had issued a press release saying it closed a new round at a $188 billion valuation but did not disclose the amount at that time; the recent announcement specifies the $5 billion figure and an updated $190 billion valuation.
Financials and products — why investors were eager
Ghodsi said Databricks has reached a $7 billion annualized run rate in revenue, growing at about 80% year-over-year, and is cash-flow positive. Its core cloud data warehouse product represents $1.5 billion of that run rate and is growing at 100% year-over-year.
AI products have added momentum: Lakebase, a database for agents, launched in June 2025 and has hit a $100 million revenue run rate. The company's AI chatbot tool Genie, capable of on-the-spot business analysis, is described by Ghodsi as “insanely popular.”
Why raise more capital now?
Despite strong performance and roughly $20 billion raised over the past 20 months, Ghodsi said Databricks needs more capital because AI is expensive. The company has multibillion-dollar cloud commitments with all three major hyperscalers, and AI research costs are high — Databricks employs about 100 people in its AI research team.
The firm is also active on the acquisition trail: this week it announced the purchase of Electric, maker of the lightweight Postgres database PGlite, which helps agents spin up databases (terms undisclosed). In June it acquired AI cybersecurity company Panther, and in March it bought two startups.
Public listing plans and strategic outlook
Ghodsi has said he still intends to take the company public one day, but for now he prefers to focus on investing in AI away from the public market scrutiny. Given the strong, immediate investor interest — the sort that produced roughly $15 billion in inbound demand — Databricks appears to have the luxury of choosing the timing and terms for future steps.
Conclusion
The $5 billion raise and $190 billion valuation underline intense investor appetite for AI-driven data platforms. Rapid revenue growth, successful AI product launches, large cloud commitments, and ongoing acquisitions explain why Databricks continues to attract substantial private capital while planning for longer-term public-market options.
