(Reuters) – DataBricks expands its AI agent product by acquiring machine learning startup Tecton. This is the latest in a series of deals aimed at providing full-scale AI building tools for enterprise customers.
Backed by Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins, Tecton offers software that helps businesses analyze and deploy data at scale with low latency.
The deal announced this week that it signed a new funding round term sheet at a valuation of over $100 billion, up more than 60% from eight months ago, following the announcement from Databricks.
Tecton has raised $160 million from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Ventures. It was founded in 2020 by a former Uber engineer who created an AI platform that Uber internally uses for real-time pricing and other features.
Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said Tecton's technology and talent will help build Agent Bricks for Databricks, the flagship product for building and automating workflows with AI agents.
Specifically, the acquisition will help reduce the response time for AI applications, which is a top priority for customers building interactive services.
“It's really real-time building blocks that send real-time information to agents,” he said, adding that speed is important for AI use cases such as voice interactions. “Many use cases are directly human faces in terms of users, and humans don't like waiting.”
The two companies already had a close relationship. Tecton partnered with Databricks and its competitor Snowflake in 2022. The two data platforms have also become startup investors.
Ghodsi said many of Tecton's customers, including Crypto Exchange Coinbase, are already using DataBricks' services. He added that the acquisition will help deepen relationships with clients who rely on both technologies.
The agreement continues the acquisition of Databricks, backed by the private evaluations that were used to purchase venture-backed startups while building a comprehensive AI platform.
Databricks acquired the generated AI platform MOSAICML for $1.3 billion in 2023, added a tabular format to provide the creators of Apache Iceberg Data in-house in 2024, and purchased Serverless database company Neon for a power-fast AI application for $1 billion earlier this year.
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