April 2025
Article
4 minutes
Top 10 Private Companies Progress Report: Databricks
Claire Shaw – Portfolio Director
Databricks is a cloud-based software company that provides data science tools for processing and transforming huge volumes of data to build AI models.
Its platform, built on top of cloud computing environments like Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud enables users to process, store and analyse, large datasets, enabling them to build and deploy data-driven applications and AI solutions across various cloud providers.
Databricks essentially aims to help organisations modernise and unlock the value of their data and accelerate their AI infrastructure and initiatives.
Key Facts
Operational Highlights
- In February 2025, Databricks and SAP announced a partnership that will redefine how applications and data platforms work together bringing together SAP’s applications with Databricks AI capabilities.
- In October 2024, Databricks announced a strategic collaboration agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS) whereby Databricks will leverage AWS’s Trainium chips as the preferred AI chip to power Mosaic AI model training.
- During the year, Databricks expanded its presence globally, including a $300m investment into Saudi Arabia, a new European regional hub in London as well as plans to open an office in Mexico on the back of its Latin American business growing 80% year on year.
Financial Highlights
- In December 2024, the company announced they had raised $10bn in their Series J fundraising round which valued the company at $62bn. Scottish Mortgage participated in this round, deploying an additional $20mn of capital.
- In January 2025, Databricks closed an additional $5.2bn of debt financing and also disclosed that Meta had joined as a new strategic investor.
- The company announced it is growing 60% year on year and expected to cross the $3bn revenue run rate and be free cash positive by the end of January 2025.
- It now has have over 10,000 customers and > 500+ customers consuming at over $1mn annual revenue run rate.
EV: Equity Values: the value of a company available to its shareholders. Shown throughout as at 31 December 2024. Logos courtesy of relevant companies. US Dollar.
Risk Factors
Unlisted investments such as private companies, in which the Trust has a significant investment, can increase risk. These assets may be more difficult to sell, so changes in their prices may be greater.
The trust invests in overseas securities. Changes in the rates of exchange may also cause the value of your investment (and any income it may pay) to go down or up.
About the author - Claire Shaw
Portfolio Director
Claire Shaw is a portfolio director and plays a prominent role in servicing Scottish Mortgage’s UK shareholder base. Before joining in 2019, she spent over a decade as a fund manager with a focus on managing European equity portfolios for a global client base. With a background in analysing companies and communicating investment ideas, Claire is also responsible for creating engaging content that makes the Scottish Mortgage portfolio accessible to all its shareholders. Beyond that, she works closely with the managers, meeting with portfolio companies and conducting in-depth portfolio discussions with shareholders.
Important information
This communication was produced and approved at the time stated and may not have been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of production and may not reflect current thinking.
This content does not constitute, and is not subject to the protections afforded to, independent research. Baillie Gifford and its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned. The views expressed are not statements of fact and should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment.
Baillie Gifford & Co and Baillie Gifford & Co Limited are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The investment trusts managed by Baillie Gifford & Co Limited are listed on the London Stock Exchange and are not authorised or regulated by the FCA.
A Key Information Document is available by visiting our Documents page.
Any images used in this content are for illustrative purposes only.
