Inside Databricks’ Contrarian Playbook: Burn $1.5 Billion to Buy Big Growth

Much of the startup world has gotten a clear message from investors: Stop bleeding cash. Databricks, one of the software startups trying to benefit most from rabid corporate interest in artificial intelligence, is taking a different tack—and getting rewarded for it.

Databricks, on the verge of raising a new round of funding at a $43 billion valuation, more than doubled its cash burn last year to $430 million and expects to burn a combined $900 million over this fiscal year and next before generating cash starting in 2025, according to two people directly familiar with Databricks’ financial forecasts. All in all, from fiscal years 2022 to 2025, the company expects to tally up to $1.5 billion of negative free cash flow.