Following a massive $10 billion fundraising round in one of the biggest venture capital funding rounds in history, Databricks received a $62 billion valuation, highlighting the extraordinary demand for rapidly expanding private companies that have experienced accelerated growth thanks to artificial intelligence.

According to a Reuters story last week, prominent investors like Andreessen Horowitz, DST Global, GIC, Insight Partners, and WCM Investment Management committed to the oversubscribed round, which was managed by Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Capital.

Additionally involved were new investors ICONIQ Growth, MGX, Sands Capital, and Wellington Management, as well as longtime backer Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Databricks anticipates surpassing the $3 billion revenue run rate in January and achieving positive free cash flow for the first time in the quarter that ends on January 31. According to individuals who previously spoke to Reuters, it also anticipates making $3.8 billion in sales in the upcoming fiscal year.

The money will primarily be used to allow some employees to cash out their stock, which makes up a sizable portion of startup remuneration and expires after a number of years. According to Ali Ghodsi, co-founder and CEO of Databricks, the business intends to utilize the remaining money to invest in new AI technologies, hire top AI talent, and explore possible M&A prospects for startups.

He credited the 11-year-old company’s efforts to reduce workforce growth in the face of rapid sales growth and to offshore some jobs for reduced prices with helping it reach the milestone of positive cash flow.

The funding, which is widely regarded as a public market contender, releases the company from the pressure to have a liquidity event, which could delay its eagerly awaited IPO.

“The company, I believe, will be a public company for the majority of its lifetime. And it’s not if, it’s a when. The absolute theoretically earliest we could do it would be next year, but we have some flexibility now. The thing that is top of mind for management and me is providing liquidity opportunities to the employees,” said Ghodsi.

The investment exceeds the $6.6 billion that OpenAI collected in October, demonstrating the enormous demand for businesses that streamline AI integration and propelling the values of startups such as Elon Musk’s xAI and Microsoft-backed OpenAI to skyrocket.

The San Francisco, California-based business makes it possible for its 10,000 clients to analyze data, including energy company Shell (SHEL.L), telecom behemoth Comcast (CMCSA.O), electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian (RIVN.O), Jack Dorsey-led payments company Block (SQ.N), and others.

With 7,000 workers, the business faces competition from Snowflake (SNOW.N), which has a market valuation of roughly $57 billion.

One of the well-known private IT firms that we believe is ready to become the next platforms is Databricks. Additionally, technology platforms have demonstrated that when they grow in size, they improve and offer additional benefits to scalability, according to Vince Hankes, a partner at Thrive Capital.

Adoption of generative AI is a key driver of Databricks’ next phase of growth, according to Insight Partners, a returning investor who gave one of the company’s largest checks this year, totaling almost $1 billion.

“Databricks is one of the iconic private tech companies that we think are poised to become the next platforms. And in technology, the platforms have shown that as they get bigger, they get better, and there’s more advantages to scale,” said Vince Hankes, partner at Thrive Capital.

Adoption of generative AI is a key driver of Databricks’ next phase of growth, according to Insight Partners, a returning investor who gave one of the company’s largest checks this year, totaling almost $1 billion.

“The world is now needing to be able to process more unstructured data than we’ve ever had to prior. The exponential demand for enterprise-grade data management, analytics and AI systems underpins the seminal role Databricks plays in empowering organizations to unlock the full potential of their data,” said George Mathew, managing director at Insight Partners.