Databricks raised another $5 billion at $190 billion
Second $5 billion cheque in six months. Ghodsi says he still wants an IPO, just not in this market.
Databricks closed a $5 billion funding round on Thursday at a $190 billion valuation, six months after a round that valued it at $134 billion. Coatue, Blackstone, MGX, T. Rowe Price, and Sixth Street Growth led. CEO Ali Ghodsi told CNBC that demand is "crazy" because companies are building AI agents. The firm said it crossed a $7 billion revenue run rate and grew more than 80% year-on-year in the second quarter. Lakebase, its database for agents, is already above a $100 million run rate. Lakehouse, the older warehousing product, is valued at over $1.5 billion. Ghodsi said Databricks still intends to go public, but not in this market. "There would be too much distraction," he said.
A private company that can raise $5 billion twice in six months is telling you the IPO window is optional if you are in the agent stack. $190 billion also puts Databricks ahead of Snowflake, the public rival it is often compared with. I keep coming back to Ghodsi's line about Chinese models: CFOs who once wanted only frontier Western APIs are now shopping for cheaper tokens. That is the real story behind the valuation: a cost panic dressed up as a funding announcement.
Watch whether the next Databricks headline is another private round or an S-1. Also watch Lakebase. A $100 million run-rate database for agents is either the next franchise or the number they needed to justify $190 billion. Public-market volatility after SpaceX is the excuse for staying private. It will stop being a good excuse when the first-quarter growth slows.