Databricks expands ANZ presence, boosting AI capabilities

Databricks has reported robust growth in the Australia and New Zealand region, emphasising increasing demand for data intelligence and AI capabilities among both public and private sector organisations.

The company plans to expand its workforce in the region to over 200 employees by the end of the year, with a focus on bolstering its field engineering team. This expansion aims to support data and AI projects for customers within the region.

As part of its public sector initiatives, Databricks has partnered with the Queensland government and the New South Wales government to create Data and AI Academy programmes. These initiatives are designed to develop the data analytics and AI skills of more than 100 government staff members in each state, ultimately enhancing public sector capabilities in these areas. Successful completion of the programmes will provide participants with Databricks certification and the ability to train their colleagues on the Intelligence Platform.

Databricks has also expanded its customer base in the ANZ region, with notable new clients including Airwallex, Austroads, Children's Cancer Institute, and Zip Co. The company's partner ecosystem in the area has grown to over 200 organisations.

Adam Beavis, Vice President and Country Manager for Databricks in ANZ, said, "I'm constantly amazed by the strong ecosystem of customers and partners in ANZ, who are investing in data intelligence and impactful AI use cases that drive innovation in this region. There's no doubt there was a learning curve with data intelligence when AI burst onto the scene, but we're now seeing a real maturity from ANZ organisations where they are bringing to market AI projects and innovations that are globally best in class."

Timothy Wong, Vice President of Data and AI at the global fintech company Airwallex, stated, "We are set to adopt Databricks as the foundation for our data and AI workload, from customer-facing dashboards and internal self-serve analytics using AI within the company. We anticipate that AI, when used the right way, will be a game changer for modern businesses. As Airwallex continues to scale globally, we will continue to explore data and AI capabilities to make our product more intuitive and deliver greater value for our customers."

Databricks' momentum in the ANZ region is part of a broader growth trajectory for the company, which recently secured USD $15 billion in financing. This follows a Series J funding round that attracted investments from Macquarie Capital, Meta, the Qatar Investment Authority, and Temasek, valuing the company at USD $62 billion. Globally, Databricks is experiencing a 60% year-on-year growth rate, with revenue reaching a USD $3 billion run rate by the end of January 2025.

The company's strategic acquisitions, such as BladeBridge, which assists enterprise data warehouse migrations, and Tabular, which enhances data and format compatibility in lakehouses, have further strengthened its offerings. Additionally, new partnerships with companies such as SAP and Palantir position ANZ enterprises and public sector organisations to leverage combined capabilities for enhanced data management and AI deployment.