Clear Street Opens Pre-IPO Access to $188 Billion AI Giant Databricks

Fintech broker Clear Street is offering investors pre-IPO access to Databricks, the data and artificial intelligence company valued at $188 billion, CNBC reports.

The move gives Clear Street clients a way to buy into one of the most closely watched private companies in the AI sector before any potential public listing. Databricks, which builds data analytics and AI platforms for enterprise customers, has become one of the largest privately held technology firms in the world.

A $188 billion valuation places Databricks among the most valuable private companies on the planet. Its inclusion in a pre-IPO offering through a fintech brokerage signals how demand for exposure to late-stage AI companies is reshaping the secondary market for private shares.

Clear Street, which operates an electronic brokerage platform, is positioning itself as a channel for investors seeking stakes in high-growth private firms that traditionally were accessible only to venture capitalists and institutional buyers. Pre-IPO programs of this kind typically let accredited investors purchase shares from employees or early backers looking to liquidate holdings before a company goes public.

For Databricks, expanded secondary trading can broaden its shareholder base and increase market visibility ahead of any listing decision. For investors, it opens a path to a company at the center of the enterprise AI buildout, where spending on data infrastructure and machine learning platforms has surged.

The offering also reflects a broader shift in how private markets operate. As large technology companies stay private longer, brokerages and secondary platforms have moved to fill the gap between venture-stage ownership and public-market access. Databricks' $188 billion price tag makes it a test case for whether retail-adjacent demand can support trading in the biggest names still outside the public markets.

No timeline for a Databricks IPO has been announced. The company's next steps on public markets, and the volume of investor demand Clear Street sees for the shares, will indicate how much appetite exists for pre-IPO exposure at this scale.