Technology and Science · updated 1h ago · 2 min read
Databricks Acquires Row Zero To Integrate AI Agents With Enterprise Spreadsheets
Databricks acquired Row Zero to integrate cloud spreadsheets with Genie AI platform. Row Zero's spreadsheet scales to over one million live rows used by Databricks' finance team.
10 outlets told this the same way.
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2 of 3 outlets skipped it: row Zero standalone product remains available while team embeds into Databricks.
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Databricks buys Row Zero
Databricks acquired early-stage spreadsheet startup Row Zero and moved to integrate spreadsheets as a work interface connecting AI agents and business intelligence, after confirming its finance team was using the tool internally. Databricks said Row Zero can process more than 1 million real-time spreadsheet rows, and the company’s AI agent Genie uses natural-language commands to handle complex questions such as profit margins or sales opportunity status. Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi said on X that spreadsheets are one of the interfaces preferred by all business analysts, and he argued that combining BI, agents and spreadsheets is reasonable.
Databricks positioned the integration as a way to keep enterprise data in its own cloud storage while allowing users and AI agents to handle the data in familiar spreadsheet formats and formulas. Row Zero was founded by engineers who previously worked at AWS and Tableau, and PitchBook said it raised $10 million in May 2025 at a valuation of about $40 million.
Genie gets a spreadsheet layer
Databricks said the deal brings Row Zero’s spreadsheet technology into its Genie product, giving users a familiar grid-based interface for working with live enterprise data while retaining controls around security, permissions and audit trails. Databricks said the technology will run on Databricks’ Genie Ontology and connect with Unity Catalog and Unity Gateway, so spreadsheets operate within the same governed data environment as the rest of the platform. Patrick Wendell said, "As more finance, operations, and go-to-market teams adopt Genie, incorporating a seamless spreadsheet experience is a must-have," framing the acquisition as a practical upgrade for teams using Genie.
Row Zero founder and CEO Breck Fresen said the company built Row Zero because it "recognized they needed to seamlessly connect to enterprise-scale data with governance and security at the core." Databricks also said the approach targets a common enterprise problem, where employees export data from enterprise systems into standalone spreadsheets that create a gap between data teams and the controls designed to protect it.
A broader acquisition push
Databricks said it plans to make further acquisitions similar to Row Zero, and the company’s recent buying spree included Quotient AI, SiftD.ai, Panther, and Electric. Databricks acquired Quotient AI in March, and Databricks acquired SiftD.ai in March as well, while Databricks acquired Panther in June and Electric last month. Databricks said Panther is an AI security operations centre startup founded in 2021, and it said Electric is the developer of PGlite, a small Postgres database useful for agents that run in local on-device environments.
Databricks completed an additional $5 billion funding round in August and said its annualised revenue totalled $7 billion, as the company continued to expand beyond its traditional data and analytics role. Ali Ghodsi told TechCrunch, "We intend to do many more acquisitions like this in the future," while the sources also said Databricks’ deal terms for Row Zero were not disclosed.