US data and AI company Databricks is sharpening its focus on cybersecurity as the next frontier in data and AI, with India playing a central role in its global strategy, including contributions to its newly launched LakeWatch platform.“Cyber threats today are largely human-driven, but as AI agents evolve, that will change,” said its India country manager Kamalkanth Tummala. “We want to build systems where agents themselves can monitor risks, detect threats, and secure data environments.”Still in its early stages, LakeWatch integrates security and monitoring capabilities for AI and data platforms. It enables customers to ingest, retain and analyse large volumes of multi-modal data, while reducing costs and avoiding vendor lock-in.
Security teams gain enterprise-wide visibility and can deploy automated defence agents to detect and respond to threats at scale.Alongside this push, Databricks is significantly expanding its presence in India, backed by a $250 million investment over the next three years. The capital will be deployed across R&D, talent, go-to-market (GTM) operations, and ecosystem development.“This investment is not in one area,” Tummala said. “It spans offices, engineering, GTM and global delivery.
India is a key part of our global strategy.”The company currently operates out of Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune, with Bengaluru as its primary hub. Its India workforce has crossed 750 employees and is expected to exceed 1,000 by year-end, with hiring focused largely on engineering roles, followed by GTM expansion.Nearly 70% of the India workforce is aligned to R&D, underscoring the country’s role as a core product development hub.
Teams are working on areas such as data ingestion, platform enhancements and components of Genie, the company’s AI assistant designed to improve enterprise decision-making.“India is not just a support centre—it’s a product development hub,” Tummala said.The company is also seeing strong momentum across customer segments. Startups in India are increasingly being built as “data- and AI-first,” while large enterprises are accelerating modernisation efforts.
At the same time, global capability centres (GCCs) are evolving into strategic hubs.“GCCs are no longer just talent hubs—they’re influencing global decisions,” he said.To cater to varied enterprise needs, Databricks is positioning itself as an open AI platform. Its AI gateway allows customers to access multiple large language models without being tied to a single provider.“Customers don’t need to choose one model,” Tummala said. “They can decide based on their business use case—whether they need the most advanced model or a more cost-efficient one.”At the go-to-market level, Databricks is adopting a technology-first approach in India, deploying more solution architects than traditional sales roles and working closely with customers to deliver business outcomes.“The shift is from speed to value,” Tummala said. “It’s about taking insights to the last mile and enabling real business impact.”The company’ closed a $5 billion funding round at a $134 billion valuation.
