The Morning Download: Databricks Raising Funds at $134 Billion Valuation

What's up: CoreWeave’s challenges highlight AI bubble fears; self-driving tech maker Luminar files for bankruptcy; Coupang data leak hits up to 34 million user accounts.

Good morning. Databricks is raising over $4 billion in Series L funding that would value the data-analytics and artificial-intelligence software company at $134 billion, The WSJ Leadership Institute reports. You can read Belle Lin’s exclusive story here.

The San Francisco-based company also said it crossed $4.8 billion in annual revenue run rate at the end of October, up from the $4 billion it announced a few months ago. Databricks makes money by renting out analytics capabilities, AI and other cloud-based software that taps AI-ready data for building enterprise tech systems.

Databricks’ latest funding is led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Co. and J.P. Morgan Asset Management with additional participation from Andreessen Horowitz. The valuation is an increase of 34% from its last funding round over the summer.

Funding growth. Ali Ghodsi, Databricks’ co-founder and chief executive, said the company plans to use the cash to invest in its core data-analytics products and AI software, as well as allow its employees to conduct secondary share sales.

Databricks, one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable private firms, expects to hire about 600 new college graduates next year, Ghodsi said. Overall, Databricks plans to add thousands of new jobs, including in Asia, Europe and Latin America. It will also invest in hiring AI researchers, who typically command high salaries. The company’s AI lab currently employs about 100 people, according to Ghodsi.

Rising demand for AI. Ghodsi attributed the company’s revenue run-rate growth, which he said is up over 55% year-over-year, to the idea that businesses are building “data-intensive applications that use AI.”

Such applications, which are often built with AI, require a platform like Databricks’ to act as the back-end database, Ghodsi said.

“What’s become more and more clear is that the large language model is becoming a commodity,” he said. “The secret sauce is, ‘Do you have, for your company, data?’ And typically it’s massive amounts of data.”

Companies are waiting longer and longer before they list their stocks publicly—and are typically much bigger when they finally do. Many are finding they can drum up funding in the private market, where disclosure rules are significantly less stringent, and that they can control who owns pieces of their company.

Still, Databricks may be somewhat of an anomaly. Series L funding rounds aren’t common, and they’re not expected to become more widespread, according to Kyle Stanford, PitchBook’s director of U.S. venture-capital research.

CoreWeave, a key player in the AI infrastructure boom, has seen its stock plunge 46% in six weeks, wiping out roughly $33 billion in market value as investors question the sustainability of the AI trade.

While fears of an AI bubble, heavy debt loads, customer concentration, and criticism from a short seller have weighed on shares, WSJ reports that a surprisingly low-tech issue helped trigger the selloff: severe summer storms in North Texas.

Weather delays and design revisions pushed back construction of a major Texas data-center complex that CoreWeave plans to lease to OpenAI.

CoreWeave’s business model involves using high-interest debt to buy AI chips from Nvidia, installing them in server racks inside data centers that it leases from third-party landlords, then renting access to the chips to AI companies.

At the same time, concerns are mounting around the promised timelines for building out computing capacity across the industry. Shares in cloud provider Oracle and custom-chip designer Broadcom are both down by double-digit percentages after they said some spending would come later than investors had hoped in recent quarterly earnings reports.

The Trump administration has launched the U.S. Tech Force, a new recruiting initiative aimed at hiring senior technologists to modernize federal agencies.

Led by the Office of Personnel Management, the program seeks software engineers, data scientists and product managers for two-year stints at agencies such as the IRS and Defense Department, the New York Times reports. The effort follows federal layoffs and the dismantling of earlier digital teams, prompting criticism that Tech Force is replacing talent lost under DOGE-era cuts.

Coupang, South Korea’s Amazon-like e-commerce giant, is reeling from one of the country’s largest data breaches, which exposed the personal information of up to 34 million users. WSJ reports that the leak went undetected for nearly five months and was traced to a former Coupang software developer.

OpenAI has hired Albert Lee from Google to lead corporate development, signaling a next phase of strategic growth, CNBC reports. Lee previously oversaw corporate development at Google Cloud and DeepMind, playing a key role in major deals including Google’s $32 billion acquisition of cloud-security firm Wiz.

Luminar Technologies, which makes sensor technology for self-driving cars, filed for bankruptcy after losing a supply contract with Volvo Cars, WSJ reports.

As Ford bolsters its lineup of gas-powered vehicles, the auto maker announced that it would turn its Kentucky EV-battery factory into a battery-storage business for customers such as utilities, wind- and solar-power developers, and AI data centers, WSJ reports.

"Slop" is Merriam-Webster's 2025 word of the year, CNBC reports. Congrats to all the AI companies and users that made it happen. 

We are asking Morning Download readers to share some of the most important books they have read over the last year.  

Kathy Kay, EVP & CIO, Principal Financial Group
The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin (2023)

“This book was a powerful reminder that creativity isn’t just an artistic pursuit, it’s a leadership capability. As AI reshapes how we work, cultivating curiosity and imagination will be essential to guiding our workforce through change with intention and humanity.”

Stephen Franchetti, CIO, Samsara
Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Max Tegmark (2017)

"It's a thought-provoking look at how AI could change our world—and what kind of responsibility, foresight and policies we’ll need to handle the risks."

Have one to share? Let us know.

The shooters who attacked a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday appear to have been inspired by Islamic State, Australia’s prime minister said Tuesday. (WSJ)

Rarely a week goes by now without a European government, military or security chief making a grim speech warning the public that they are headed toward a potential war with Russia. (WSJ)

The U.S. military said it carried out strikes on three boats it suspected of drug smuggling in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, killing eight men, the latest attacks in Washington’s campaign against such vessels. (WSJ)

This February 10–11, technology leaders will gather in Palo Alto for The WSJ Technology Council Summit to explore the realities of enterprise AI, the evolving role of tech leadership and the urgency behind building meaningful, business-driving AI strategies. Join the Technology Council and be part of the conversations shaping the future of corporate innovation.

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The WSJ CIO Journal Team is Steven Rosenbush, Isabelle Bousquette and Belle Lin.

The editor, Tom Loftus, can be reached at thomas.loftus@wsj.com.