Funds and UK Public Sector Hire for Databricks

Databricks has appointed former Home Office Shared Servcies head Lee Stockwell as Head of Public Sector for the UK and Ireland. The company has also secured a new round of funding, reported but not confirmed as around $3 billion, which values the company at $188 billion.

Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco with more than 30 offices around the globe, and helps more than 20,000 organizations to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents.. The company offers a unified platform that includes Lakebase, Genie, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog.

The firm says the appointment comes as public sector departments across the UK and Ireland are looking for tangible outcomes from AI, advancing resilience, efficiency and productivity. Stockwell (pictured) brings more than twenty years of experience of enterprise technology and the public sector, most recently from senior leadership roles as head of the National Security and Public Safety division at ServiceNow, and leading the Live Services and Shared Services division for the UK Home Office. In his new role he will lead Databricks' public sector strategy across the UK and Ireland, deepening partnerships with government agencies and public sector organisations and helping them to scale AI for better policy outcomes.

Samuel Bonamigo, SVP and GM, EMEA states: 'Lee's experience at the intersection of technology and the public sector will be critical as we increase our support to meet the growing needs of organisations across the UK and Ireland.'

The funding round was led by Coatue, and is said to be 'solid' although (unusually for a funding announcement) not yet formally signed off. In February the company announced that a Series L finance round was now extended to $7 billion, having first been reported in December - that raise valued the company at $134 billion. The latest means it's now halfway through the alphabet with a Series M - also very rare, and reflecting the company's success in recalibrating itself as an AI business, according to TechCrunch.

Web site: www.databricks.com .