Learn how to invest in Databricks stock before the Databricks IPO. All U.S.-based investors can now own Databricks via the Fundrise Innovation Fund for a $10 minimum investment. The Fund recently acquired a $33 million stake in Databricks.
Buy or sell private shares of Databricks stock at Hiive. Monitor availability or place bids to own target pre-IPO startups.
Table of Contents
Recent Databricks Stock IPO News
03/27/2024: Introducing DBRX: Databrick’s LLM
03/22/2024: Nancy Pelosi Discloses Databricks Investment
03/14/2024: Databricks Partners with and Invests in Mistral AI
03/06/2024: WSJ: Record Sales at Databricks. An IPO Can Wait.
Older news…
What is Databricks?
Databricks is a data science and artificial intelligence (A.I.) cloud and web-based software service. The company is on a mission to simplify and democratize data and A.I., helping data teams solve the world’s toughest problems.
Its primary product is a web-enabled Unified Data Platform that empowers data engineers at Fortune 500 companies to import massive amounts of data from existing sources, then compile the data to provide business intelligence.
Databricks uses “data lakes” via the Databricks Lakehouse Platform to combine elements of data lakes and data warehouses to simplify enterprise data by eliminating the silos that historically complicate data and AI.
Understanding enterprise data optimizes operations and helps companies stay one step ahead of competitors.
In terms of what this company actually does, most people aren’t going to understand. The main takeaway is that data analytics is an extraordinary long-term trend over the decades to come, positioning Databricks to ride the wave.
Notably, the world’s biggest data companies use its products and have made private investments in the company (see next section).
The original creators of Apache Spark, an open-source data analytics engine for large-scale processing, founded Databricks. The company is headquartered in San Francisco. In 2022, it was named as a Forbes Cloud 100 leader alongside Lacework and the fintech leader Plaid.
Here’s a brief video about how to investing in Databricks stock:
Is Databricks Stock Publicly Traded?
No. Databricks is still privately owned.
Who Owns Databricks?
Databricks shareholders include the founders, institutional investors (venture capital firms), and employees.
Databricks has raised at least $3.4 billion in private financing since its founding. Morgan Stanley led an August 2021 funding round, injecting at least $1.5 billion.
Other prominent investors include Fidelity, Microsoft, Amazon, CapitalG, Salesforce Ventures, Tiger Global, Andreessen Horowitz, Blackrock, New Enterprise Associates, the ARK Venture Fund, and the Fundrise Innovation Fund and its pool of investors (including me).
When is the Databricks IPO Date?
The Databricks IPO date is currently unknown. It is widely regarded as a potential upcoming tech IPO.
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi told the Wall Street Journal on March 6th, 2024 regarding an IPO:
We’re certainly ready as a company: The way we’re operating, the way we’re doing our audits, the way our financials are, the CFO, the board structure. So we’ll make a strategic decision whenever that time comes. The markets seem pretty shut. Databricks doesn’t have any special thing that we need to check the box on to be able to go public.
We won’t get a better sense of when the Databricks IPO will be until one of two things happens:
- A new Databricks private funding round completes
- The Databricks IPO date range leaks to the financial press
- The SEC releases a publicly-available Databricks S-1 filing
We may get clues, such as when Databricks selects a lead underwriter for the IPO or announces a confidential filing. Those types of announcements would indicate the IPO is within six to twelve months.
Even when the company and SEC publicly release the S-1 filing, we still won’t know a firm date. However, the IPO date typically occurs a month or so after the S-1 is released to the public.
Bookmark this page for the latest Databricks IPO news.
Databricks Valuation
The Databricks valuation is $43 billion based on the latest funding round, the Series I, that raised $500 million in September 2023.
March 2024 private stock transaction data on the Hiive platform suggest the valuation remains steady around the $40 billion level. It’s one of the most active private stocks on the pre-IPO marketplace.
What is the Databricks Stock Price?
Since Databricks is not publicly traded on a stock exchange, there is no Databricks stock price yet.
March 2024 private transactions indicate shares traded in the range of $59-$75 per share, according to data provided by the pre-IPO marketplace Hiive.
The company and its underwriters won’t publicize an estimated IPO price range until after the initial S-1 filing is made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
What is the Databricks Stock Symbol? Databricks Ticker?
Databricks has not yet submitted public filings to the SEC. Therefore, it is not yet known what the Databricks stock symbol will be. We can only speculate.
Here are two possibilities that appear to be available in the U.S.:
- DATA
- BRCK
Can you Invest in Databricks Stock Today?
Yes.
Generally, it’s challenging to acquire shares of high-demand IPOs and pre-IPO startups. Most investors must settle for buying the stock after it begins trading.
However, Databricks is an exception. Retail investors can access pre-IPO shares today, before the IPO.
Below, we’ll run through some scenarios to own Databricks stock in the future.
1. Access Databricks Pre-IPO via the Fundrise Innovation Fund or ARK Venture Fund
The Fundrise Innovation Fund (review) initiated a $25 million investment in Databricks in July 2023. It increased the stake to $33 million by early 2024. The stock is now accessible to all U.S.-based investors for only a $10 minimum investment. Non-accredited investors are welcome.
I’m an early investor in the Fund and wrote a detailed Fundrise Innovation Fund review that gives the details of how it works. I also maintain an active list of fund investments and update it anytime there’s a new holding.
To own the Fundrise Innovation Fund, open and fund an account with Fundrise. There is no longer a waiting list to invest in the Fund. New investors and non-accredited investors are welcome to invest.
Investors can also own Databricks via the ARK Venture Fund (review) at SoFi Invest.
Both venture capital funds are not available on the open stock market. You much open an account with these online platforms to invest.
Please note: This is a testimonial in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on AccessIPOs.com. All opinions are my own.
2. Buy Databricks Shares Directly Pre-IPO
Founders, early employees, and investors are often in a difficult predicament. They own valuable shares or stock options of a company that doesn’t trade publicly.
These shareholders might have multi-million dollar net worths because of their stock holdings, but the stock is not liquid because it doesn’t trade on an exchange.
A few platforms have evolved to give these individuals a way to fund stock options or liquidate holdings before the IPO.
Prominent pre-IPO platforms include Hiive Linqto, EquityZen, and Forge Global.
Equitybee provides accredited investors access to pre-IPO startups by funding employee stock options. In exchange, investors gain a portion of the future stock value.
These sites bring liquidity to an otherwise illiquid asset. Accredited investors (those with invested assets > $1,000,000) may join these sites and attempt to buy these companies’ shares when they become available.
The shares are only offered to accredited investors because the company’s financials are not publicly filed with regulators yet, increasing the investors’ risk.
Retail investors can bypass the accreditation requirement to own pre-IPO startups by owning venture capital funds like the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
However, you cannot select individual pre-IPO companies. But the fund is growing and acquiring high-quality startups (like Databricks) at a rapid pace.
3. Buy stock during the Databricks IPO through a participating broker
IPO access has become more attainable to retail investors in the past few years.
The following online brokers give customers free access to IPOs, even with low account balances:
Brokers negotiate exclusive IPO share allocations to make available to retail investors.
Access to specific high-demand IPOs is usually limited by which brokerage accounts you have and what broker gets exclusive access.
TradeStation has a longer track record of accessing more than 300 IPOs and secondary offerings via its partnership with ClickIPO.
But Robinhood and SoFi Invest have the advantage of Silicon Valley networks and a history of getting allocations for high-profile IPOs.
Check out this list of best brokers for IPO investing to learn more about IPO access for retail investors.
4. Buy Databricks stock after the Databricks IPO
Since acquiring IPO shares is almost always challenging for individual investors, the easiest way to own Databricks stock is to wait for the IPO to complete.
Realistically, unless your brokerage account is worth more than $1 million and your broker regularly receives IPO allocations, you are unlikely to get in on high-demand IPOs.
Patient investors can sometimes buy the stock at or below the IPO price.
Uber, which many predicted to rise steeply, actually fell on the IPO date.
Spending significant effort to acquire IPO shares may not be worth it in the end. You may also spend time and effort to obtain shares but only receive a small allocation, limiting upside gain.
Though IPOs can provide one-day gains north of 20%, even up to 100% in rare cases (such as Airbnb and Doordash), the most significant gains will come during the decade following the IPO if the company is genuinely disruptive.
Take, for example, Netflix, Amazon, or Tesla. You could have bought the stock years after the IPO and still experienced gains of more than 1,000%
If you’re an investor who wants to buy Databricks stock for the long-term, consider opening a position after the IPO and averaging down if the stock falls.
Short-term traders may angle to acquire IPO shares and hope for a short-term pop.
Where can I find the Databricks S-1 Filing?
The Databricks S-1 filing won’t be publicly available until released. Once it is public, we’ll post it here.
You can find a real-time SEC feed of the latest IPO filings from other companies on the recent S-1 filings page.
Databricks Stock IPO News Archive
01/17/2024: Databricks Preps Employee Stock Sale
10/23/2023: Databricks acquires Arcion for $100 million
09/14/2023: Databricks raises $500M more, valuation to $43B
08/25/2023: Databricks in Talks to Raise Funds at a $43 B Valuation
08/17/2023: Microsoft Plans A.I. Service With Databricks
08/16/2023: Databricks in Talks to Raise More Cash
06/26/2023: Databricks Acquires MosaicML (ARK Venture holding)
06/14/2023: Databricks Says Annual Revenue Jumped 60% to Top $1 B
05/03/2023: Databricks acquires AI-centric governance platform Okera
04/12/2023: Databricks releases Dolly 2.0 A.I. LLM
03/24/2023: Databricks pushes new A.I. chatbot as ChatGPT alternative
03/02/2023: Databricks riding the A.I. boom
10/20/2022: Databricks is Trimming Valuation While Others Are Slashing
08/05/2022: Databricks Says It Has Surpassed $1 Billion in Annualized Rev
06/16/2022: Databricks Pushes Ahead With Hiring Spree to Add 2,500 Workers This Year
06/06/2022: Rethinking Databricks’ valuation in a more conservative startup market
05/17/2022: Databricks Ranked #34 on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 List
02/17/2022: As Databricks reaches $800M ARR, a fresh look at its last private valuation
01/26/2022: Snowflake vs. Databricks: How Onetime Friends Became Fierce Cloud Rivals
12/09/2021: Databricks Creates Its Own Venture Fund
11/02/2021: Databricks Sets Official Data Warehousing Performance Record
10/06/2021: $38 billion software startup Databricks makes acquisition to leave code behind
09/04/2021: Flush with billions, Databricks has momentum and big plans
08/31/2021: Confirmed: Databricks raises $1.6B at $38B valuation as it blasts past $600M ARR
08/18/2021: Databricks Valuation Jumps to $38 Billion in Funding Deal
05/21/2021: Databricks is on track for $1 billion in revenue in 2022
02/17/2021: Databricks adds support for Google Cloud as it prepares to go public
02/01/2021: UiPath and Databricks set the stage for direct listings with huge funding rounds
02/01/2021: Amazon, Alphabet, and Salesforce are all investing in a $28 billion company that crunches big data
10/23/2020: Microsoft-backed Databricks Plans IPO Next Year
Conclusion
Databricks is one of the largest private companies in the world. Hype around the IPO for such a large company can get retail investors excited to own the stock.
Often, companies like Databricks are not accessible to retail investors pre-IPO because of restrictions on venture capital investment access.
Databricks is a rare, but increasingly more common example of how ordinary investors can own innovative startups before Wall Street.
Investors who wish to own Databricks stock before the Databricks IPO can do so for a minimum investment of $10 through the Fundrise Innovation Fund.
This is extraordinary access that is hopefully a more common circumstance at the Fund builds its portfolio holdings.
Be cautious if investing in pre-IPO startups and be sure to validate the investment strategy is suitable for your risk tolerance and investment objectives.
* Disclosure: The web page contains affiliate links from our partners. If a reader opens an account or buys a service from a link in this article, we may be compensated at no additional cost to the reader. Opening an account with a broker that provides access to IPOs does not guarantee the customer allocations of specific IPOs. The author is long HOOD, MSFT, and Databricks via the Fundrise Innovation Fund and the ARK Venture Fund. This article is an advertisement on behalf Social Finance, Inc., or SoFi Lending Corp. 234 1st Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. California Finance Lender #6054612. NMLS #1121636.