Can You Invest in Databricks Pre-IPO? Here's Everything You Need to Know

With AI technology accelerating, Databricks should have much more growth ahead of it. Given that growth potential, many investors can't wait to get their hands on its shares.

Here's a look at how to invest in Databricks and some factors to consider when evaluating the company.

Is Databricks publicly traded?

As of mid-2025, Databricks wasn't a publicly traded company. Investors can't currently buy the company's shares on a stock exchange with their brokerage accounts.

Will Databricks have an IPO?

Databricks didn't have an initial public offering (IPO) on the calendar as of mid-2025. The company is slowly moving towards launching an IPO. In late 2024, Databricks' co-founder and CEO, Ali Ghodsi, said, “If we were going to go, the earliest would be, let’s say mid next year or something like that.” However, it had yet to firm up an IPO date by late 2025.

Databricks has considered going public in the past. The company was on a path to complete an IPO in 2021 after a private funding round. That would have been a prime time to go public due to sky-high investor interest in technology start-ups. However, with investor appetite for IPO stocks having cooled since then, the company may remain private until the IPO market heats back up.

Meanwhile, it has had no trouble raising capital in the private market. It completed a massive $10 billion funding round in late 2024, one of the largest ever in the history of venture capital. It has now raised $14 billion in venture funding and has a $5.25 billion bank credit facility.

Is Databricks profitable?

Since Databricks is still a private company, it doesn't need to publicly report its profitability. However, it has released some financial information publicly.

In late 2024, the company revealed that it raised $10 billion in new funding from investors. In a press release, Databricks reported that it expected to achieve positive free cash flow in the fourth quarter of that year. A big factor driving its improving profitability is its soaring revenue.

Databricks' revenue

Databricks' annual recurring revenue (ARR) run rate crossed the $3 billion milestone in 2024. The company is increasing revenue at a rapid clip; it surged more than 60% in the third quarter of 2024.

Databricks' revenue will likely continue growing briskly. It now has more than 500 customers, providing it with over $1 million in annual revenue. Meanwhile, its intelligent data warehousing product (Databricks SQL) reached an annual revenue run rate of $600 million, up more than 150% in the past year.

Databricks' valuation

Databricks last raised money from private investors in December 2024. The funding round raised a staggering $10 billion at a $62 billion valuation. That's up from $43 billion at its last funding round in 2023.

Can you invest in Databricks?

Even though Databricks isn't a publicly traded company, some investors can still buy an interest in its upside potential through a secondary platform like EquityBee or Forge Global (FRGE -0.07%). The online platforms allow accredited investors (i.e., those with a high net worth or a high income) to invest in venture capital-backed startups.

Accredited investors on EquityBee can fund employee stock options. In exchange, they will receive a percentage of the option's sale price when the company completes a liquidity event, like a sale or an IPO. Databricks is one of the most popular startups with investors on the EquityBee platform.

Meanwhile, anyone can gain exposure to Databricks through the Fundrise Innovation Fund. The venture capital fund is open to all investors. It also has a very low investment minimum (about $10 per share). Databricks is one of several pre-IPO companies held by the fund, which also owns shares of Canva, Anyscale, Anthropic, and OpenAI.

Alternative options

There are alternative investment options for people who aren't accredited investors and want to gain upside exposure to the fast-growing cloud data sector before Databricks' IPO. They can invest in a publicly traded database company that competes with Databricks. Here are a couple of alternative options investors might want to consider:

1. Snowflake (SNOW -11.49%): Snowflake's data cloud enables customers to store, process, and analyze data faster, more easily, and with greater flexibility than legacy solutions.
2. MongoDB (MDB -2.10%): MongoDB is a document database. Its flexible approach enables clients to start building applications without spending time configuring their database.

How to buy stocks similar to Databricks

It's easy to invest in these Databricks alternatives. Here's a step-by-step guide to buying stocks:

1. Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
2. Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
3. Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
4. Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
5. Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
6. Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.

The bottom line

Databricks is one of the most exciting up-and-coming companies. It's increasing revenue rapidly as more companies use Lakehouse to manage their data, especially for AI applications. It's a highly anticipated IPO.

However, since it's not yet public, investors can take their time to fully analyze the company before buying shares. They can also consider some of its already-public competitors like Snowflake and MongoDB, which are also growing fast. They could be better investments over the long term, especially if Databricks launches at a rich valuation.

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