Databricks Acquires Row Zero as It Targets More Startup Deals
The deal will connect Row Zero’s cloud spreadsheet with Databricks’ Genie AI agent, while the company plans many more acquisitions.
Databricks acquired cloud spreadsheet startup Row Zero on Sept. 24, adding a spreadsheet interface to its Genie AI agent as the data company expands its acquisition program.
Financial terms were not disclosed. Row Zero was founded by former AWS and Tableau engineers, and its platform could scale beyond one million live spreadsheet rows.
The integration will allow Databricks users to work with data through natural-language prompts while using a spreadsheet-style interface. Genie is designed to answer complex business questions involving information stored in Databricks systems, including profit margins and sales prospects.
“Spreadsheets are one such interface that every business analyst loves,” Ali Ghodsi said. “So it makes a lot of sense to intermarry Business Intelligence (BI), Agents, and Spreadsheets!”
The acquisition follows several other Databricks purchases this year. The company acquired Quotient AI and SiftD.ai in March, Panther in June and Electric in August. Quotient AI focuses on evaluation and reinforcement learning for AI agents, while SiftD.ai developed an interactive notebook.
Panther is an AI security operations center startup. Electric develops PGlite, a lightweight Postgres database designed for agents running locally on devices.
Databricks closed $5 billion in funding in August and reached a $7 billion annualized revenue run rate. Ghodsi said the company intends to complete many more acquisitions in the future.
