Databricks Commits $420 Million To ANZ Expansion As Enterprise AI Moves Beyond Pilots

Databricks is pouring AU$420 million (US$300 million) into Australia and New Zealand over the next three years, backing a bet that local enterprises are ready to move AI out of the lab and into production.

The investment comes off the back of more than 85 per cent year-on-year growth for the company across ANZ in Q1, driven by demand in financial services, energy and the public sector.

New Sydney headquarters to quadruple office footprint

As part of the commitment, Databricks will open a new ANZ headquarters at 400 George Street in Sydney later this year. The 22,000-square-foot office will quadruple the company’s existing footprint in the region and include dedicated training facilities.

The expanded presence is designed to support a growing team and a widening customer and partner ecosystem across the two countries.

Enterprise customers scaling up

Databricks’ local customer base now spans industries including financial services, energy and government. Organisations such as the City of Melbourne have joined an existing roster that includes Airwallex, Atlassian, National Australia Bank, Telstra and Queensland Health.

Adam Beavis, Vice President and Country Manager at Databricks ANZ, pointed to the shift from experimentation to operational deployment as the driver behind the investment.

“We’re seeing a clear shift from AI experimentation to impact across ANZ enterprises. Organisations are moving beyond pilots into production – from improving customer experiences to streamlining operations,” he explained.

“Our US$300 million investment reflects the pace of adoption and our long-term commitment to the region. Now our customers can innovate even faster with Lakebase, Genie and Agent Bricks, build with confidence and drive tangible business outcomes.”

Three products now generally available in the region

The investment will support broader adoption of three Databricks products that are now generally available across ANZ.

Lakebase is the company’s serverless Postgres database built for AI agents. Genie is an AI agent that allows employees to query their data using natural language and receive answers in real time. Agent Bricks is a platform for building, managing and governing AI agents on enterprise data.

The City of Melbourne is already using Genie to allow staff to interrogate complex datasets without needing technical skills.

Councillor Andrew Rowse, Innovation and Education Portfolio Head at the City of Melbourne, outlined how the council is applying the technology.

“With Genie, teams can query complex data, like pedestrian flows, using natural language, turning raw data into real-time, actionable insights,” he noted. “It’s empowering our people to self-serve insights and accelerating our journey to becoming a truly data-driven organisation.”

Plan to train 100,000 people across ANZ

Databricks is also committing to train 100,000 learners across ANZ over the next five years, aligning with the goals of Australia’s National AI Plan to prepare workers for an AI-enabled economy.

The training will be delivered through a mix of in-person and virtual bootcamps, hackathons, customer-led enablement programs and multi-city learning festivals.

A key part of the initiative is the Databricks for Business program, which targets non-technical users and equips them to interact with data through Genie. The aim is to extend AI and data capabilities beyond specialist teams and into broader parts of the workforce.

Broader momentum in the region

The investment follows what Databricks describes as a period of strong local momentum, with the 85 per cent year-on-year growth in Q1 underpinned by demand from organisations looking to put AI workloads into production rather than simply trialling them.

The new headquarters, product rollouts and training commitments together represent one of the larger enterprise AI investments announced in the ANZ market this year.

Last Updated on May 5, 2026 by Nick Ross