Databricks has acquired Row Zero, a cloud spreadsheet startup built to handle large datasets while maintaining enterprise security and governance. The company plans to integrate Row Zero with Genie, its AI system for letting business users ask questions about company data using natural language.
The financial terms were not disclosed. Row Zero was founded by former AWS and Tableau engineers and raised $10 million in May 2025 at an estimated valuation of about $40 million, according to PitchBook.
Row Zero Will Add Spreadsheets to Genie
Databricks said in its acquisition announcement that Row Zero will give Genie a native spreadsheet experience for teams including finance, operations, sales and marketing. Users will be able to analyze data, model scenarios and collaborate while keeping information within Databricks’ governance controls.
Row Zero works similarly to Excel and Google Sheets but is designed for much larger datasets. It can connect directly to cloud data warehouses and supports more than 1 billion rows for enterprise customers, along with familiar tools such as formulas, charts and pivot tables.
Databricks’ own finance team was already using Row Zero alongside Genie before the acquisition. CEO Ali Ghodsi said the company’s executives learned about the product after seeing how its finance employees combined the two tools.
Genie lets employees ask questions about company data using natural language instead of writing queries or learning dedicated business intelligence software. Adding Row Zero will let users work with the answers through a spreadsheet interface they may already know.
The integration is also intended to keep enterprise data inside governed systems. Rather than exporting company information into separate spreadsheets and circulating copies between employees, teams can work with live data while retaining Databricks’ access controls and auditability.
Databricks Continues Buying AI and Data Startups
The acquisition follows several deals by Databricks in 2026. In March, it acquired Quotient AI, which develops evaluation and reinforcement learning technology for AI agents, along with interactive notebook startup SiftD.ai.
Databricks later acquired AI security operations company Panther in June and Electric, the company behind lightweight Postgres database PGlite, in August. Ghodsi said Databricks intends to pursue additional acquisitions.
The company itself raised another $5 billion in August at a $190 billion valuation and has reached a $7 billion annualized revenue run rate. Row Zero now joins Databricks as the company works to combine AI agents, analytics and familiar business interfaces within the same data platform.
Featured image credits: Wikimedia Commons
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