Thrive Capital
Assembly Line
Databricks is Raising $10B Series J Investment at $62B Valuation
Databricks, the Data and AI company, announced its Series J funding. The company is raising $10 billion of expected non-dilutive financing and has completed $8.6 billion to date. This funding values Databricks at $62 billion and is led by Thrive Capital. Along with Thrive, the round is co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners and WCM Investment Management. Other significant participants include existing investor Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and new investors ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital and Wellington Management.
The company has seen increased momentum and accelerated growth (over 60% year-over-year) in recent quarters largely due to the unprecedented interest in artificial intelligence. To satisfy customer demand, Databricks intends to invest this capital towards new AI products, acquisitions, and significant expansion of its international go-to-market operations. In addition to fueling its growth, this capital is expected to be used towards providing liquidity for current and former employees, as well as pay related taxes. Finally, this quarter marks the first time the company is expected to achieve positive free cash flow.
Robot AI startup Physical Intelligence raises $400 mln from Bezos, OpenAI
Physical Intelligence, a startup that is developing foundational software for robots, said it has raised $400 million in early-stage funding from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, OpenAI, venture capital firms Thrive Capital and Lux Capital. The new funds were raised at a $2 billion valuation, PitchBook data showed.
Multiple startups are foraying into the robotic AI space, including Vicarious, which was acquired by Alphabet-owned Intrinsic in 2022, Universal Robots, Seegrid, and Covariant.