Databricks Acquires Row Zero in Push to Merge AI, Analytics, and Spreadsheets

Databricks announced on Thursday that it has acquired Row Zero, an early-stage startup specializing in cloud-based spreadsheet technology. The move is part of a broader strategy to integrate artificial intelligence, business intelligence, and spreadsheet interfaces into a single, secure platform.

The acquisition reportedly originated within Databricks’ own finance department, which had adopted Row Zero for its ability to handle more than one million live rows of data. The team combined the tool with Genie, Databricks’ native AI agent, allowing users to query complex datasets using natural language. This enabled finance staff to analyze metrics such as profit margins and sales pipeline status without leaving their familiar spreadsheet environment.

Upon learning how effectively the finance team was utilizing the technology, company leadership recognized a wider opportunity. Ali Ghodsi, Databricks’ Chief Executive, described the convergence on X as a logical step to “intermarry” business intelligence, AI agents, and spreadsheets. The goal is to allow enterprise users to interact with secure data stored in Databricks cloud infrastructure through standard spreadsheet formulas, eliminating the need to switch to separate business intelligence software or risk data security by exporting files.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Row Zero, founded by former engineers from AWS and Tableau, raised $10 million in May 2025 at a post-money valuation of approximately $40 million, according to PitchBook.

This deal continues Databricks’ aggressive expansion in 2026. The company, which recently closed a $5 billion funding round in August at a $190 billion valuation and reached a $7 billion annualized revenue run rate, has made several notable acquisitions this year. In March, it purchased Quotient AI, which focuses on evaluation and reinforcement learning for AI agents, and SiftD.ai, a developer of interactive notebooks. In June, Databricks acquired Panther, an AI security operations center startup previously valued at $1.4 billion in 2021. Most recently, the company bought Electric, the maker of PGlite, a lightweight Postgres database designed for local AI agent execution.

Ghodsi confirmed to TechCrunch that the company intends to pursue additional acquisitions similar to the Row Zero deal in the future.