Databricks acquires Row Zero to bring governed spreadsheets to Genie AI

Untracked spreadsheets exported from company data systems remain the most common way sensitive information slips outside audit trails and access controls.

• Databricks acquired Seattle spreadsheet startup Row Zero on September 24, 2026, folding its technology into Genie, Databricks' AI coworker for business teams.
• Founded in 2021 by former AWS engineers Breck Fresen and Nick End, Row Zero built a browser spreadsheet that runs each file on a dedicated cloud instance, scaling to roughly a billion rows versus Excel's 1,048,576-row cap.
• Deal terms were not disclosed; Row Zero had previously raised about $10 million in a Series A round in 2025 at roughly a $40 million valuation.
• The integration will run on Unity Catalog and Genie Ontology, so spreadsheet formulas and grids stay tied to permissions, lineage, and audit logs rather than existing as disconnected copies of enterprise data.
• The purchase comes weeks after Databricks raised $5 billion led by Coatue at a $190 billion valuation and reported $7 billion in annualized revenue, up more than 80% year-over-year.
• Row Zero is Databricks' fourth 2026 acquisition after Quotient AI, SiftD.ai, Panther, and Electric, and CEO Ali Ghodsi says more deals are planned.
• The deal shows data platforms racing to make AI usable for non-technical staff by acquiring the interface workers already trust rather than trying to replace it.