This story was originally published on Retail Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Retail Dive newsletter. The liquidation of Saks Off 5th digital operations has been approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, undoing part of the unusual breakup five years ago of Saks’ online and offline retail operations. In 2021 Saks Fifth Avenue spun off the e-commerce operations of full-line Saks Fifth Avenue, then followed suit at its off-p ...

Pomelo, the Argentina-headquartered payments infrastructure firm, has secured $55m in a Series C funding round. The round was co-led by Kaszek and Insight Partners. Additional backing came from existing and new investors including Index Ventures, Adams Street Partners, S32, Endeavor Catalyst, Monashees and TQ Ventures. The latest round brings the company’s total capital raised so far to $160m. Pomelo will use the new capital to move beyond its core focus on card issuing, further develop issuing and cr ...

Core Insights - Databricks has completed over $4 billion in financing, with a post-money valuation of $134 billion, indicating strong investor confidence and growth potential [1] - The company reported an annualized revenue of over $4.8 billion for Q3, reflecting a year-on-year growth of over 55% [1][6] - Databricks aims to unify data processing and analysis workflows for enterprises, addressing challenges posed by data volume and complexity [2][4] Group 1: Company Overview - Databricks serves approximately 17,909 customers and holds an estimated market share of 16.49%, ranking first in the enterprise data platform sector [2] - Major competitors include Azure Databricks (15.82% market share), Talend (9.41%), and Apache Hadoop (9.34%) [2][3] Group 2: Market Trends and Challenges - The increasing volume of unstructured data and the need for AI integration in products are driving the demand for unified data platforms [4][5] - Companies face challenges with data governance and quality, leading to inefficiencies and hidden costs due to repeated data handling and misalignment [8] Group 3: Databricks' Strategic Positioning - Databricks focuses on consolidating data storage, reporting, and AI/ML processes within a single platform to reduce complexity and costs [5] - The company employs a pay-as-you-go model, allowing for better cost control and flexibility in scaling operations [5] Group 4: Competitive Landscape - Databricks competes with cloud data warehouses like Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, and Google BigQuery, each with distinct strengths [10][11][12][13] - Snowflake excels in data warehousing with a focus on SQL analysis, while Databricks is more suited for complex data processing and machine learning [11] - Amazon Redshift is integrated within the AWS ecosystem, making it ideal for organizations deeply embedded in AWS, contrasting with Databricks' broader data engineering capabilities [12]

US enterprise software company ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW) announced today that it is acquiring Israeli cybersecurity company Armis for $7.75 billion in cash. This is one of the biggest cybersecurity deals signed in Israel in recent years and the fourth biggest ever. "Globes" understands that in addition to the payment, the deal includes bonuses worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Armis employees to stay in their jobs, which takes the value of the overall deal over $8 billion. ServiceNow provides software ...

Core Insights - Databricks is raising over $4 billion in its latest funding round, increasing its valuation to $134 billion, a 34% increase from the previous round [1] - The trend of startups delaying IPOs to avoid regulatory scrutiny is evident, with the median age of companies going public rising from six years in 2000 to 14 years in 2024 [2] - Databricks' financing is considered an anomaly as Series L funding rounds are rare, according to industry experts [3] Company Overview - Databricks offers a cloud-based platform for data storage, processing, and analysis, as well as custom AI model development [4] - The company has partnered with AI safety and research firm Anthropic and OpenAI to enhance its AI capabilities [4] - Databricks reported an annualized revenue of $4.8 billion in Q3, marking a 55% increase from the previous year [4] Future Plans - The new capital will be used to expand AI-driven applications, support future AI acquisitions, deepen AI research, and provide liquidity for employees [6] - Investors are betting on a future where every corporation becomes a data-centric entity requiring a unified platform for data management [6]

Core Insights - Databricks has successfully raised over $4 billion in a Series L funding round, achieving a valuation of $134 billion, which is a 34% increase from its previous valuation of $100 billion just three months ago [1] - The company is focusing on developing products that cater to the AI revolution, including a database for AI agents, an AI agent platform, and applications for building and deploying data and AI solutions [2] Funding and Valuation - This funding round marks Databricks' third major venture fundraising effort within a year, reflecting strong investor confidence in the company's ability to leverage data for AI applications [4] - The company was valued at $60 billion around the same time last year, indicating significant growth in investor belief regarding its potential [4] Revenue Growth - Databricks reported a run-rate revenue exceeding $4.8 billion, which represents a 55% increase from the previous year, with over $1 billion of that revenue coming from AI products [4] Product Development - The company is heavily investing in its AI agent database, Lakebase, which is based on the open-source Postgres database, and aims to support corporate developers in their projects [3] - Databricks' AI agent platform, Agent Bricks, is designed to assist businesses in building and deploying AI agents that utilize their data [3] Strategic Partnerships - Databricks has secured significant deals worth hundreds of millions with AI labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI to integrate their models into its enterprise products [3] Job Creation and Expansion - The new funding will be utilized to create thousands of new jobs across Asia, Europe, and Latin America, as well as to recruit more AI researchers [6] Investor Participation - The funding round was led by notable firms including Insight Partners, Fidelity, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with participation from several other prominent investors [7]

Core Insights - Databricks has raised over $4 billion at a valuation of $134 billion, highlighting investor confidence in the potential of artificial intelligence [1] - The company reported a revenue run rate exceeding $4.8 billion in Q3, reflecting a growth of over 55% year-over-year [2] - Revenue from AI products and data warehousing each surpassed a $1 billion run rate, while maintaining positive free cash flow over the last 12 months [3] Funding and Investment - The Series L funding round was led by Insight Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management, with participation from notable investors like Andreessen Horowitz, BlackRock, and Blackstone [1][4] - Databricks plans to utilize the funds to accelerate AI-driven application development, support future acquisitions, expand AI research, and provide liquidity for employees [4] Customer Base and Market Position - The company serves over 20,000 customers globally, including major corporations such as Shell, AT&T, Toyota, Adobe, S&P Global, Warner Bros Discovery, and NBA [5]

Core Insights - Runware, founded by Flaviu Radulescu in 2023, focuses on real-time generation of images, videos, and audio, addressing the slow speed of existing generative AI technologies [2][3] - The company has achieved significant growth, serving over 200,000 developers and facilitating over 10 billion creations since its launch [4] Company Overview - Runware provides a platform that allows developers to integrate its API into their applications, enabling media asset generation without the need for new infrastructure [5] - The platform features a customized AI inference infrastructure for open-source models, offering "zero-day access" and competitive pricing [5] Funding and Financials - Runware recently completed a $50 million Series A funding round led by Dawn Capital, with total funding reaching $66 million to date [5] - The company aims to maintain competitiveness through cost-effective pricing and a unified API, leveraging its Sonic Inference Engine on custom AI hardware [5] Market Position and Competition - The startup operates in a competitive landscape, with rivals like Fal.ai and Replicate, focusing on different aspects of AI model deployment [6][7] - Runware differentiates itself by offering a pay-per-use model based on the cost of generated images, rather than charging for GPU compute time [7] Future Goals - The new funding will be used to expand infrastructure, with a goal of supporting over 2 million models [7] - Runware aims to become the API for all AI, making generative AI models accessible on its platform [7][8] - The company plans to grow its team from approximately 25 employees to support its expansion into new modalities [8]

Core Insights - Armis, a privately-held Israeli cybersecurity company, is in discussions for a potential sale to US-based ServiceNow for up to $7 billion, with an announcement expected soon [1] - ServiceNow is a leading platform for enterprise management and automation, boasting a market capitalization of nearly $180 billion [2] - Armis has recently surpassed an annual revenue of $300 million, growing by $100 million in less than a year, indicating strong demand for its cybersecurity solutions [3] Company Overview - Armis focuses on securing critical assets for large organizations, including airports and oil and gas infrastructure, and has expanded its offerings to address cyber vulnerabilities [5] - The company was previously controlled by Insight Partners, which acquired it in 2020 for $1.1 billion, making them significant beneficiaries of the potential sale [4] - Armis's founders have a history in cybersecurity, having previously worked at Adallom, which was acquired by Microsoft for $320 million in 2025 [5] Investment and Future Plans - The company is considering an IPO, targeting a flotation in late 2026 or early 2027 [3] - Other notable investors in Armis include Goldman Sachs, Google's Capital G, and Brookfield Asset Management, indicating strong backing from prominent financial entities [4]

Core Viewpoint - Databricks is experiencing a record valuation of $134 billion following a recent $5 billion funding round, highlighting both the risks and opportunities associated with the current AI hype, despite increasing development costs impacting gross margins [2][3]. Financial Performance - Databricks has raised its sales forecast multiple times this year, with an expected revenue growth of 55%, up from an initial estimate of $3.8 billion to $4 billion [4]. - The company's gross margin has decreased from a planned 77% to 74% due to rising costs associated with AI product usage [5]. - Databricks is currently at a break-even point, with an anticipated free cash flow of $10 million, a significant improvement from previous years where it faced cash burn in the hundreds of millions [5]. Valuation Comparisons - The current valuation of Databricks is approximately 32 times its expected sales of $4 billion, compared to 24 times last year's sales and 26 times the year before [3][4]. - In comparison, competitors like Snowflake and Datadog have valuations of 21 times and 16 times their expected sales, respectively, while Palantir stands out with a valuation exceeding 90 times its expected sales [5]. Market Position and Strategy - Databricks focuses on Lakehouse technology for enterprise data storage and is pushing for the adoption of its AI Agent to automate HR and IT tasks, aiming to capture more business [5]. - The company has a close relationship with OpenAI, which is one of its largest clients, and has committed to investing $100 million in OpenAI models over the next few years [6]. Industry Concerns - CEO Ali Ghodsi has warned of the potential AI bubble, suggesting that many executives in the AI sector may be overly optimistic about current capabilities [7]. - The company faces challenges similar to other software firms with data infrastructure, as evidenced by declining gross margins reported by competitors like Snowflake [8].