Databricks Wraps Up $15B Financing Round, Adds Meta As A ‘Strategic Investor’

The fast-growing big data and AI platform developer, which announced a $10-billion Series J equity funding round in December, this week added a $5.25 billion credit facility to its war chest and identified additional investors.

Data and AI platform juggernaut Databricks has closed its Series J funding round, adding a $5.25 billion credit facility to its previously announced $10 billion equity financing and disclosing that social media giant Meta is a new “strategic investor.”

The San Francisco-based company said Wednesday that existing investor QIA, the sovereign wealth fund of the State of Qatar, along with new investors Temasek and entities administered by Macquarie Capital, also participated in the Series J funding round that puts Databricks’ market cap at $62 billion.

Databricks first announced the Series J funding last month and at the time said the round of $10 billion in expected non-dilutive financing was co-led by new investor Thrive Capital and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners and WCM Investment Management. Other significant participants identified at the time included existing investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and new investors ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital and Wellington Management.

[Related: Databricks’ New Offering Promises Speedier AI, Analytical Application Development]

The Wednesday announcement added Meta, QIA and Macquarie Capital to the list of investors in the equity funding round without disclosing the size of their stakes.

Databricks said that in addition to the $10 billion in equity funding, the company closed a $5.25 billion credit facility led by JPMorgan chase along with Barclays, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley with participation from other leading financial institutions and alternative asset managers. The credit facility includes a $2.5 billion unfunded revolver and a $2.75 billion term loan.

Databricks, one of the IT industry’s fastest growing companies, said it would apply the additional capital to developing new AI products, making additional acquisitions and expanding its international go-to-market operations. It will also use some of the new capital to provide liquidity for current and former employees and pay related taxes.

“We received overwhelming interest in this round from both new and existing investors and strategic partners who believe in our vision and market impact. These partners are focused on the long-term success of Databricks and our rapidly growing customer base,” said Ali Ghodsi, Databricks co-founder and CEO, in a statement. “Organizations are modernizing their data and AI infrastructure because they recognize the immense potential of generative AI. Data intelligence is critical to both unlocking this potential and to helping enterprises reach their business goals.”

The Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, the company’s flagship product, provides a comprehensive range of capabilities for data analytics, data lakehouse, machine learning and AI tasks.

In December Databricks, which remains privately held, said it had experienced 60 percent year-over-year growth in recent quarters and disclosed that it expected to surpass the $3 billion annual revenue run rate and achieve positive cash flow in the fourth quarter.

“We are excited to deepen our commitment to Databricks through this follow-on investment, underscoring our strong conviction in the company’s leadership and strategic positioning,” said Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi, CEO of QIA, in a statement. “At QIA, we are expanding our exposure across the AI ecosystem and believe Databricks has become the leading platform within the AI infrastructure software space.”