Databricks wraps $5 billion funding round at $190 billion valuation

2026/08/13

Categories: business-finance

Databricks CEO: ‘We want to be a public company,’ but there’s ‘too much distraction’ right now

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Databricks on Thursday said it closed a $5 billion funding round at a $190 billion valuation to invest in enterprise AI capabilities.

The company said that it crossed $7 billion in revenue run rate and grew more than 80% year-over-year in its second quarter.

CEO Ali Ghodsi told CNBC's Jon Fortt on Thursday that "demand is crazy."

"What's happening basically is everybody's using these agents, AI agents, and the whole world is laser focused on agents, AI, and sort of you know that core part of it," Ghodsi said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

Ghodsi highlighted strength in the AI software company's Lakebase database unit, Genie business agent and its AI Gateway tool, which helps control model use and costs.

The company's recent Lakebase database for AI agents has already surpassed a $100 million revenue run rate, Databricks said. The company said its Lakehouse data warehousing tool has surpassed a $1.5 billion run rate.

The funding round comes six months after the private data analytics software company raised $5 billion in funding and $2 billion in new debt capacity at a $134 billion valuation.

Founded in 2013, Databricks helps companies build AI agents and apps using proprietary data.

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The company, which ranked No. 3 on CNBC's 2026 Disruptor 50 list, has already exceeded public market rival Snowflake in market value and is expanding its newer verticals, including cybersecurity.

Databricks has found itself at the center of the token cost discourse sweeping public markets.

Ghodsi said skyrocketing AI costs are boosting demand for the company's AI Gateway platform and open-source tools. Many customers are also more readily adopting Chinese tools despite previous hesitations, he said.

"The attitude a year or two ago was we just need frontier proprietary, and we can just ignore Chinese models," he said. "What has happened is that this token maxing has freaked out the CFOs."

Databricks is among a growing group of companies that have delayed going public, given the myriad of funding opportunities emerging in private markets.

SpaceX's blockbuster IPO set the stage for a potentially big year for IPO activity, but shares have been volatile since the debut. Frontier model makers Anthropic and OpenAI have both confidentially filed to go public, gearing up to debut as soon as this year.  

Ghodsi said Databricks intends to go public but wants to focus on investing in its AI products, especially given the current market volatility.

"We're not just a company that wants to stay in the private, but right now I just think there would be too much distraction in the public market," he said.

Coatue, Blackstone, MGX, T. Rowe Price and Sixth Street Growth led the funding round.

— CNBC's Jordan Novet contributed reporting

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