AI firm Databricks purchases 8080 Labs

Leading AI and data business, Databricks, recently announced their acquisition of Frankfurt-based 8080 Labs, the creator of bamboolib, a UI-based data science tool. Bamboolib gives data scientists the ability to investigate data and transform it, without the need to write code.

Once the acquisition is complete, Databricks intend to incorporate the solutions developed by 8080 Labs into their own Lakehouse Platform to increase their low-code/no-code service. Data and AI can be democratised through providing staff more access to easy to use and powerful data platforms. Citizen data scientists are one of the key groups Databricks hope to empower with this purchase, as these people typically have less technical expertise than those with a data science background.

More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies use Databricks Lakehouse Platform to unify their data, analytics and AI, including firms such as Comcast, Condé Nast and H&M. While the terms of the deal were not disclosed by either party, Databricks recently raised $1.6 billion at a $38 billion valuation.

8080 Labs isn’t the first business Databricks has acquired with Amsterdam-based data science solutions startup, Cubonacci, joining them earlier this year. Open source project, Redash, also joined Databricks last year as part of a plan to give data teams the most powerful tools to benefit their businesses.

“We founded 8080 Labs to bring simplicity to complex data tasks and make the power of data science and machine learning accessible to data teams of any skill set,” said Tobias Krabel, Co-Founder of 8080 Labs.  “With open-source roots and an incredible vision to reshape the data landscape with the lakehouse category, we see endless opportunities with Databricks and could not be more excited to join the team on this journey,” adds Krabel.