Databricks, Inc., the American data software company headquartered in San Francisco, California, completed a $15 billion funding round in 2025, led by SoftBank, at a valuation of $90 billion. The round was one of the largest private financings in the technology sector at the time, underscoring the company's central role in the AI infrastructure boom. Databricks, founded in 2013, offers cloud-based data analytics and is known for developing the 'data lakehouse' architecture, which combines elements of data warehouses and data lakes to manage structured and unstructured data. The company's platform runs on major cloud providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
The 2025 round followed a period of rapid growth and aggressive expansion, including acquisitions and partnerships aimed at integrating generative AI capabilities. Databricks had previously raised $10 billion in December 2024 at a $62 billion valuation, and by late 2025 its valuation had climbed to $134 billion after a $4 billion Series L round. The $15 billion round in 2025, however, represented a distinct milestone, with SoftBank's participation signaling strong investor confidence in the company's strategic direction.
Background and Founding
Databricks was founded in 2013 by a team of researchers from the AMPLab project at the University of California, Berkeley, including Ali Ghodsi, Ion Stoica, Matei Zaharia, and others. The company was built around Apache Spark, an open-source distributed computing framework that became widely adopted for big data processing. Databricks aimed to commercialize Spark by offering a managed cloud platform, and over time it evolved into a comprehensive data and AI platform.
The 2025 Funding Round
The $15 billion round was announced in 2025, with SoftBank as the lead investor. The round valued Databricks at $90 billion, a significant increase from the $62 billion valuation in December 2024. The funding was intended to accelerate product development, expand global operations, and support the company's push into AI-native data infrastructure. SoftBank's investment was part of a broader trend of large technology bets on AI infrastructure companies, following its involvement in other major AI-related financings.
Strategic Context
By 2025, Databricks had positioned itself as a key player in the AI revolution. The company had acquired MosaicML in 2023 for $1.4 billion, adding generative AI capabilities to its platform. It had also launched products like Genie, a chatbot for data interaction, and Dolly, an open-source language model. The $15 billion round came as Databricks sought to build a database for AI agents, an AI agent platform, and applications for deploying data and AI solutions. The company's revenue was growing rapidly, with a reported $1.6 billion in fiscal year 2023 and a $5.4 billion revenue run rate by February 2026.
Partnerships and Ecosystem
Databricks had established partnerships with major cloud providers and AI companies. In 2025, it entered into a five-year partnership with Anthropic to incorporate Anthropic's AI products into its platform, valued at $100 million. In June 2025, it announced a four-year partnership with Alphabet to integrate Gemini into the Databricks platform. In September 2025, it partnered with OpenAI to incorporate OpenAI's large language models, also in a $100 million deal. These partnerships were part of Databricks' strategy to offer a multi-model AI platform, allowing customers to choose from various AI providers.
Acquisitions and Product Expansion
In 2025, Databricks acquired Neon, a serverless database startup, for around $1 billion, extending its PostgreSQL capabilities. The company also launched Agent Bricks, a suite of tools for building AI agents, and Lakebase, an OLTP database. These moves were aimed at strengthening its data infrastructure for AI workloads. The company's lakehouse architecture, built on open-source projects like Delta Lake, continued to be a core differentiator.
Financial Performance and Valuation
Databricks' valuation trajectory reflected its rapid growth. After the $10 billion round in December 2024 at $62 billion, the company raised $1 billion in August 2025 at a valuation over $100 billion, followed by a $4 billion Series L in December 2025 at $134 billion. The $15 billion round in 2025, however, was a separate event that brought the valuation to $90 billion, indicating that the company was raising capital at different stages and valuations. By July 2026, a $3 billion round led by Coatue Management valued the company at $188 billion, and by August 2026, a $5 billion round closed at a $190 billion post-money valuation. The company reported a $7 billion revenue run rate in August 2026, with positive free cash flow.
Impact and Industry Significance
The $15 billion round was notable not only for its size but also for its implications for the AI industry. It signaled that investors were willing to back large, capital-intensive data infrastructure companies that could support the growing demand for AI applications. Databricks' focus on the 'data intelligence platform' - integrating lakehouse architecture with generative AI - positioned it as a competitor to traditional data warehouses and to cloud providers' AI offerings. The round also highlighted the role of SoftBank as a major investor in AI infrastructure, following its investments in other AI companies.
Leadership and Vision
Ali Ghodsi, CEO of Databricks, has been a vocal advocate for the company's vision of a 'data intelligence' approach, where AI is used to understand and manage data. Under his leadership, Databricks has expanded from a Spark-based platform to a full-fledged AI and data platform. The company's founders, including Ion Stoica and Matei Zaharia, have remained involved, providing technical guidance. The 2025 funding round was seen as a validation of this vision, enabling Databricks to invest in research and development, sales, and marketing to compete with giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.
Future Outlook
As of 2025, Databricks was on a trajectory toward a potential initial public offering, though no official plans were announced. The company's ability to raise large sums at increasing valuations suggested strong investor confidence. The $15 billion round, led by SoftBank, was a key milestone in that journey, providing the capital needed to scale operations and continue innovating. With the AI revolution driving demand for data infrastructure, Databricks was well-positioned to play a central role in the next wave of enterprise technology.