Databricks raised $10B in December 2024 — one of the largest private rounds ever. The Series J priced the company at $62B post-money, up from $43B in 2023. The round is unusual for being so large: it allowed early investors and employees to take secondary, while the primary capital funds aggressive expansion.
The revenue picture
Databricks ARR crossed $3B during 2024, growing 60%+ year over year. That's a remarkable rate for a company this size. Snowflake (a useful public comparable) trades at ~16× EV/Revenue with 29% growth. Databricks at $62B is around 20× $3B — a slight premium, justified by faster growth and the AI tailwind.
Implied share price and strike math
On 850M fully-diluted shares, $62B implies $73/share. For employees who joined in the 2021–2022 cohorts with strike prices in the $35–$55 range, that's a $20–$40 per-share spread before tax. A 10,000-option grant from that era is worth $200K–$400K of pre-tax paper gain.
IPO timing
CEO Ali Ghodsi has publicly said Databricks isn't in a rush to IPO. The Series J gave them enough capital to operate as a private company for years, and the secondary mechanism (combined with periodic tenders) keeps employees liquid.
Most likely path: 2026–2027 IPO, conditional on stable public markets. The recent regulatory environment for tech IPOs is more favourable than 2022–2023, but Databricks has the luxury of waiting.