Databricks expands data platform with acquisition of Row Zero

### Databricks Acquires Row Zero to Bring Large-Scale Spreadsheets Into AI Workflows

Databricks has acquired spreadsheet startup Row Zero as the cloud-based data and artificial intelligence company works to make its AI tools more practical for everyday business operations.

The deal, announced Thursday, marks Databricks’ fourth acquisition of 2026 and comes as the company continues expanding its technology portfolio through acquisitions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The deal originated from Databricks’ own finance organization, which had become a user of Row Zero’s platform. Unlike traditional spreadsheet applications that can struggle with very large datasets, Row Zero is designed to work with more than one million live rows of data while maintaining an interactive experience.

Row Zero was founded by Breck Fresen, who serves as CEO, and Nick End, both former engineers at Amazon Web Services and Tableau. Its cloud-based spreadsheet technology is built for analyzing datasets substantially larger than those typically handled by conventional spreadsheet software. The company has said its platform can work with billions of rows while allowing users to interact with the information in real time.

Databricks plans to integrate Row Zero’s technology with Genie, its AI-powered coworker designed to help business teams analyze data and obtain answers through natural-language prompts.

The combination is intended to connect AI-assisted analysis with the familiar spreadsheet environment used by finance, operations and other business teams. For example, a user could ask Genie to determine why profit margins changed, then move directly into Row Zero to examine the underlying numbers, build financial models and create visualizations.

The integration could allow users to manipulate large datasets within the spreadsheet environment without having to transfer information into a separate application. Databricks also plans to maintain the security controls associated with its platform as the tools become more closely connected.

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said the acquisition grew out of the company's own experience using the two products together. In a post on X, Ghodsi said large parts of Databricks had begun using Genie and that the finance team subsequently combined Genie with Row Zero’s “Live Cloud Spreadsheet.”

According to Ghodsi, the combination demonstrated the potential for AI-driven analysis and large-scale spreadsheet work to operate together, prompting Databricks to approach the Row Zero team.

Row Zero had previously raised $10 million in a funding round in May 2025 at a valuation of approximately $40 million. The acquisition gives Databricks access to technology aimed at a common business workflow in which employees move between automated analysis and detailed spreadsheet-based modeling.

Databricks itself has been expanding rapidly. The company recently completed a $5 billion funding round in August that valued the business at approximately $190 billion. Its annualized revenue run rate has reached about $7 billion.

The Row Zero acquisition is also part of a broader acquisition strategy. Ghodsi indicated that Databricks expects to pursue additional deals, suggesting that the company sees acquisitions as an important way to expand its AI and data capabilities.

Earlier in 2026, Databricks acquired Quotient AI, a startup focused on evaluation and reinforcement learning for AI agents. The company also acquired Panther, an AI-driven security operations center startup that had previously reached a valuation of about $1.4 billion in 2021.

With Row Zero, Databricks is adding a tool that connects its AI capabilities with one of the most widely used formats for business analysis. The company’s strategy increasingly centers on allowing employees to move from natural-language questions to detailed data analysis and modeling within a connected platform.