Latest news with #dataplatform
Wall Street Journal
3 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Blackstone Agrees to Buy Private-Equity Backed Enverus
Blackstone agreed to acquire energy-data platform Enverus from Hellman & Friedman and Genstar Capital. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. It is expected to close by the end of the year, Blackstone said on Wednesday.
Globe and Mail
29-07-2025
- Business
- Globe and Mail
How Databricks Is Quietly Becoming One of the Most Powerful AI Stocks Yet to Go Public
Key Points Databricks has emerged as a competitive threat to Snowflake. A $15 billion fundraising round earlier this year confirms the excitement around this company. According to the CFO, revenue was on track to rise 50% yearly through July. 10 stocks we like better than Snowflake › Databricks has attracted increasing attention in recent months. Although it is currently a privately held company, it raised a considerable amount of money earlier this year and reported an annualized revenue projection despite private companies not being required to disclose such information. It also announced global expansions and additional hiring that will heavily focus on recruiting talent in the artificial intelligence (AI) field. Not surprisingly, such revelations have led to speculation on when Databricks might launch an IPO. While it has not publicly announced such an intention, the company has arguably become the most prominent AI company not trading on the market. Here's why. Databricks described Databricks is a data cloud platform and stands out by utilizing a data lakehouse platform. This combines a data warehousing platform with a data lake, which stores data in a raw format. Through the platform, users can store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in the cloud. Databricks also enables its clients to secure, manage, structure, and apply data for use in analytics and performing machine learning workloads. It is also a more appealing alternative to storing data in silos, which makes data governance and protecting its integrity difficult. Databricks also accomplishes many of its tasks through the Mosaic AI platform. It helps developers design generative AI applications to find relevant documents and data that provide context for large language models, thereby increasing the accuracy of responses. This leads to inevitable comparisons with its peers. One is MongoDB, whose nonrelational database has grown in popularity. Still, the competitor grabbing the most attention appears to be Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW). Snowflake is a competing data cloud company that drew investor attention when it received backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway before its September 2020 IPO. Will Databricks go public? Snowflake's history as a public company may also be a reason Databricks might consider an IPO. Although Snowflake sells for far below its 2021 high, it has grown substantially from the IPO price of $120 per share in 2020. Admittedly, Snowflake was not immune to selling during the 2022 bear market, and Berkshire later exited its position. Nonetheless, it has consistently commanded a valuation premium, and with a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 19, Snowflake stock remains relatively expensive. Moreover, Databricks' recent fundraising round and financial revelations may also indicate both its value as a start-up and its intention to go public. Early this year, the company raised $15.3 billion in equity financing, which gave it a presumed valuation of $62 billion, not far below Snowflake's current market cap of $71 billion. As mentioned, Databricks has also increasingly made voluntary financial disclosures. Last month at the Data and AI Summit, CFO Dave Conte stated that he expected Databricks to generate $3.7 billion in annualized revenue through July, representing a 50% yearly increase. Such news affirms the company's success, making it easier to draw attention if it later announces a plan to go public. Databricks' role in the AI space moving forward Although Databricks remains a private company, its successes make it one AI company investors need to watch. Databricks' role as a data cloud company makes it a prominent player in the AI space, and the competitive threat it poses to rival Snowflake should be closely watched by Snowflake shareholders and tech investors in general. Also, the company's $15 billion fundraising haul last year shows that private investors are already on board. Additionally, the success of Snowflake's IPO and its premium valuation could bode well for Databricks, should it go public. Considering Databricks' 50% revenue growth and the continued investor focus on AI, the company is likely to hold the attention of investors, regardless of whether it remains private or launches what would likely be a highly anticipated IPO. Should you invest $1,000 in Snowflake right now? Before you buy stock in Snowflake, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Snowflake wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 28, 2025
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Databricks Is Quietly Becoming One of the Most Powerful AI Stocks Yet to Go Public
Key Points Databricks has emerged as a competitive threat to Snowflake. A $15 billion fundraising round earlier this year confirms the excitement around this company. According to the CFO, revenue was on track to rise 50% yearly through July. 10 stocks we like better than Snowflake › Databricks has attracted increasing attention in recent months. Although it is currently a privately held company, it raised a considerable amount of money earlier this year and reported an annualized revenue projection despite private companies not being required to disclose such information. It also announced global expansions and additional hiring that will heavily focus on recruiting talent in the artificial intelligence (AI) field. Not surprisingly, such revelations have led to speculation on when Databricks might launch an IPO. While it has not publicly announced such an intention, the company has arguably become the most prominent AI company not trading on the market. Here's why. Databricks described Databricks is a data cloud platform and stands out by utilizing a data lakehouse platform. This combines a data warehousing platform with a data lake, which stores data in a raw format. Through the platform, users can store structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data in the cloud. Databricks also enables its clients to secure, manage, structure, and apply data for use in analytics and performing machine learning workloads. It is also a more appealing alternative to storing data in silos, which makes data governance and protecting its integrity difficult. Databricks also accomplishes many of its tasks through the Mosaic AI platform. It helps developers design generative AI applications to find relevant documents and data that provide context for large language models, thereby increasing the accuracy of responses. This leads to inevitable comparisons with its peers. One is MongoDB, whose nonrelational database has grown in popularity. Still, the competitor grabbing the most attention appears to be Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW). Snowflake is a competing data cloud company that drew investor attention when it received backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway before its September 2020 IPO. Will Databricks go public? Snowflake's history as a public company may also be a reason Databricks might consider an IPO. Although Snowflake sells for far below its 2021 high, it has grown substantially from the IPO price of $120 per share in 2020. Admittedly, Snowflake was not immune to selling during the 2022 bear market, and Berkshire later exited its position. Nonetheless, it has consistently commanded a valuation premium, and with a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 19, Snowflake stock remains relatively expensive. Moreover, Databricks' recent fundraising round and financial revelations may also indicate both its value as a start-up and its intention to go public. Early this year, the company raised $15.3 billion in equity financing, which gave it a presumed valuation of $62 billion, not far below Snowflake's current market cap of $71 billion. As mentioned, Databricks has also increasingly made voluntary financial disclosures. Last month at the Data and AI Summit, CFO Dave Conte stated that he expected Databricks to generate $3.7 billion in annualized revenue through July, representing a 50% yearly increase. Such news affirms the company's success, making it easier to draw attention if it later announces a plan to go public. Databricks' role in the AI space moving forward Although Databricks remains a private company, its successes make it one AI company investors need to watch. Databricks' role as a data cloud company makes it a prominent player in the AI space, and the competitive threat it poses to rival Snowflake should be closely watched by Snowflake shareholders and tech investors in general. Also, the company's $15 billion fundraising haul last year shows that private investors are already on board. Additionally, the success of Snowflake's IPO and its premium valuation could bode well for Databricks, should it go public. Considering Databricks' 50% revenue growth and the continued investor focus on AI, the company is likely to hold the attention of investors, regardless of whether it remains private or launches what would likely be a highly anticipated IPO. Should you buy stock in Snowflake right now? Before you buy stock in Snowflake, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Snowflake wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 28, 2025 Will Healy has positions in Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway, MongoDB, and Snowflake. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. How Databricks Is Quietly Becoming One of the Most Powerful AI Stocks Yet to Go Public was originally published by The Motley Fool
Finextra
23-07-2025
- Business
- Finextra
NatWest hires AWS and Accenture to consolidate customer data across the bank
NatWest has signed a five-year deal with Amazon Web Services and Accenture to consolidate its customer data streams into a single, bank-wide data platform, enabled by AI. 0 The project will revamp the storage of data on 20 million customers across the bank to help anticipate and respond to customer needs faster with more personalised services. As a result, the bank's relationship managers will gain a deeper insight into customer financial wellness, equipping them with tools and analytics to provide recommendations, products and support that proactively meet their needs. The avilability of better quality data is also expected to aid faster onboarding, improve customer complaints handling, support security and protection measures by reducing the time it takes to alert customers of fraud risks and to provide more efficient and faster financial, risk and regulatory reporting through improved data sourcing. Paul Thwaite, CEO of NatWest Group, says: 'This collaboration with Accenture and AWS is key to helping us progress the transformation of NatWest as we become a simpler, more technology and data-driven bank. Our industry — and the expectations of our customers — are changing rapidly and we are building our capabilities in order to understand and serve their needs better and faster than ever before. Equipped with high quality data, we can continue to quietly revolutionise how we serve our customers through the use of AI and other technologies in order to provide more personalised products and services.'
