Databricks has announced plans to invest more than £600,000,000 in the UK over the next three years. The data and AI company will quadruple its London office footprint with a new 137,000-square-foot headquarters which will serve as its new EMEA hub.
Databricks currently employs a UK and Ireland team of over 500 people, a figure expected to rise to more than 1,000 over the next few years. Located in Fitzrovia, the expanded space is intended to strengthen partnerships with regional customers, including Unilever, Rolls Royce, Nationwide, Virgin Atlantic, Department for Education, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Octopus Energy and Flo Health.
The firm’s local client base includes over 50 per cent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company stated the investment will assist in attracting AI talent and meeting demand for Lakebase, a serverless database built for AI agents, and Genie, a tool that allows employees to converse with their data.
The announcement follows existing plans to train 100,000 people across the UK and Ireland in data and AI skills by 2028. This includes partnerships with the London School of Economics and University College Dublin through its University Alliance Program. The company is also providing £7,000,000 in funding across the UK and Europe to offer students and professionals free access to its platform.
Michael Green, UK and Ireland managing director at Databricks, said: “The UK is a hub for AI innovation, and we are proud to make such a strong commitment to the market. When we opened our first dedicated UK office and EMEA hub in 2024, we had a clear aim: to be at the heart of the UK’s data and AI community, providing a space for our team and partners to come together to collaborate on the future of data and AI. This new office and investments accelerate that ambition even further.”
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