Databricks says it’s buying MosaicML in a bid to ‘democratize A.I.’

▤ Summary

Databricks’ $1.3 billion stock acquisition of MosaicML aims to give startups and corporations the freedom to build their own A.I. Startups could lean on the traditional tech giants to build out their A.I.s, but it could be very expensive, and it would make them captive to someone else’s timelines, two venture capital executives said. Enter MosaicML, which is providing software that lets startups use their own data to train and deploy large language models as well as other generative A.I. But if Databricks does exit, MosaicML’s earliest investors are on a path to achieve “a significant double-digit cash-on-cash return on their total investment,” the VC added. The company was valued at $38 billion in 2021, and an IPO has long been expected, but a stock market downturn beginning last year has stifled those opportunities.

▦ Linked Companies

Databricks

$1B+