San Francisco-based data intelligence giant Databricks is opening a research and development centre in Vancouver as the firm expects to soon earn a valuation exceeding $100 billion USD.
The new site will work on Databricksâ artificial intelligence business intelligence (AI/BI) product, âUnity Catalog Semantics, Databricks Apps, and infrastructure for petabyte-scale real-time analytics. The company is hosting a launch and networking event at the new Vancouver office with some of Databricks’ engineering and founding team members at 6 p.m. PST on Aug. 21. Â
The new hub will be led by Ken Wong, the Vancouver-based founder of revenue intelligence startup Datajoy, which Databricks acquired in 2022. Since then, Wong has served as Databricksâ senior director of product management.Â
Vancouver âhas a deep pool of data and AI talent for Databricks to draw from,â Wong said in a blog post announcing the new office. âWe envision Vancouver becoming a key hub for some of our most strategic efforts at Databricks.âÂ
Databricks was founded in 2013 by a seven-person team, including University of Toronto alumnus Reynold Xin and University of Waterloo alumnus Matei Zaharia. Xin has also backed Vancouver-founded startup Gumloop, which just secured an undisclosed strategic investment from Shopify Ventures.Â
RELATED: Databricks acquires Vancouver-born Datajoy
Databricks revealed this week that itâs expecting to close a Series K round that will value it at more than $100 billion. TechCrunch reported the yet-to-be-closed primary round will raise around $1 billion for the company, which is perpetually delaying an initial public offering (IPO) due to market conditions. Databricks told investors and analysts earlier this year that it expected to generate $3.7 billion in annualized revenue by July, marking 50 percent year-over-year growth.
âWeâre seeing tremendous investor interest because of the momentum behind our AI products, which power the world’s largest businesses and AI services,â Databricks co-founder and CEO Ali Ghodsi said in a statement. âWeâre thrilled this round is already over-subscribed and to partner with strategic, long-term investors who share our vision for the future of AI.â
Databricks claims it either launched or expanded partnerships with Microsoft, Google Cloud, Anthropic, SAP, and Palantir over the last two quarters, and that it has more than 15,000 organizations using its data intelligence platform, including more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Feature image courtesy Databricks via Glassdoor.Â