Databricks Acquires Microsoft Excel Competitor Row Zero

Databricks is acquiring Row Zero, a five-year-old Microsoft Excel competitor that sells spreadsheet software that’s designed for analyzing massive amounts of data.

The deal could help Databricks attract more non-technical users to Genie, a chatbot it launched last summer that lets business analysts ask questions and get answers from their corporate data. Genie has passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue, the value of contracts over the next 12 months, according to a person with direct knowledge of the figure.

Row Zero, founded by former Amazon Web Services managers, says on its website that its spreadsheet software is faster and more secure than Microsoft Excel, while also being compatible with that product. Row Zero has raised $13 million since its founding, including a $10 million seed round last May led by IA Ventures. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The deal shows how Databricks, which spent its early years selling primarily to data engineers and data scientists, is increasingly targeting business users—a move that’s certain to heighten its already intense competition with Snowflake, its main rival.

Databricks said in August that it had surpassed $7 billion in annualized revenue based on sales in its July quarter, representing growth of more than 80% compared to last year. That same month, Databricks closed a $5 billion funding round led by Coatue, at a $190 billion valuation.