Databricks doubles down on AI with new investment fund

Databricks has announced the launch of the Databricks AI Fund, a strategic investment initiative designed to support early- to growth-stage startups leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) in innovative ways.



Managed by Databricks Ventures, the company’s strategic investment arm, the fund aims to strengthen the ecosystem around the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform.



The AI Fund marks a significant commitment by Databricks to foster the next generation of AI-driven startups. This initiative will target investments in companies utilizing or enabling AI in novel ways, particularly those that complement the Databricks platform. The fund will also be accessible to AI companies in Australia and New Zealand.



“As software ate the world, we believe AI is now eating software,” a Databricks spokesperson stated. “The era of AI in the enterprise has arrived, and our new AI Fund embodies Databricks Ventures’ commitment to supporting a new generation of founders and startups in this critically important ecosystem.”



Since last fall, Databricks Ventures has invested in six AI-focused companies: Anomalo, Cleanlab, Glean, Mistral AI, Perplexity, and Unstructured. These investments span various sectors, from open-source LLM development to AI-powered data quality monitoring, highlighting the diverse applications of AI technology.



Andrew Ferguson, Head of Databricks Ventures, emphasized the importance of this initiative. “We launched Databricks Ventures in December 2021 as our strategic investment arm for funding innovative startups across the data, analytics and AI landscape — companies that shared our view on the importance of open platforms and ecosystems. Since then, via the inaugural Lakehouse Fund, we’ve invested in more than 25 amazing companies that are building on or extending the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. The result has been a stronger ecosystem, with our portfolio companies delivering best-in-class product experiences for our joint customers.



“Today, we’re excited to announce the Databricks AI Fund, the second fund at Databricks Ventures. Just as software ate the world, we believe AI is now eating software. As such, the pace of change in the AI ecosystem has dramatically accelerated. The era of AI in the enterprise has arrived, and our new AI Fund embodies Databricks Ventures’ commitment to supporting a new generation of founders and startups in this critically important ecosystem.



“To bolster the ecosystem around the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform, we will be aggressively seeking out investments in innovative, early- to growth-stage startups that are utilising or enabling AI in innovative ways on top of or alongside our platform. These companies will share our vision for an open ecosystem and our commitment to using the power of data intelligence for the benefit of our joint customers.



“Just since last fall, we’ve announced investments in six AI-focused companies: Anomalo, Cleanlab, Glean, Mistral AI, Perplexity and Unstructured. These portfolio companies fall in very different sectors of the landscape — from open-source LLM development (Mistral AI) to AI-powered data quality monitoring (Anomalo) — but all leverage the power of AI to deliver superior customer experiences. And with these varied investments, we have forged deeper partner and integration relationships across the AI value chain that benefit our portfolio companies and our common customers — and help us build a strong, differentiated ecosystem around the Databricks platform.



“We’re even more excited about the future of data and AI today than we were in 2021 — and Databricks Ventures is ready to help a new set of founders and entrepreneurs build AI-first companies.”



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