How The US AI Giant Databricks Uses Flexible Workspaces to Scale Across Europe
When the American giant AI group Databricks opens in a new country, it rarely begins with a gleaming headquarters. Instead, the company typically starts with a desk inside a coworking building.
Databricks was founded in 2013, has more than 10.000 employees, active in 20+ countries. The founders wanted to simplify how organizations process enormous quantities of data while making artificial intelligence accessible to enterprises.
By 2026, Databricks had raised more than $26 billion in funding and generated multi-billion-dollar annual revenues. Its customer list includes more than 10,000 organizations worldwide and over 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies.
Databricks’ expansion began inside flexible workspaces operated by coworking providers. Instead of signing long leases immediately, the company frequently establishes a local presence inside serviced offices where it can rapidly add or reduce capacity while building sales, engineering and customer success teams. The strategy minimizes risk while allowing recruitment to begin immediately. The approach is particularly visible across continental Europe.
Databricks’ Berlin office operated from the British-German coworking operator Techspace, popular among technology scale-ups. Meanwhile, its Munich operation has been located at Design Offices.
The Paris office follows the same pattern. Databricks established its French presence inside Morning Coworking, one of Paris’ best-known flexible office operators, as well as at the famous Paris based international incubator Station F.
In Spain, the has historically relied on flexible workspace arrangements with the Spanish coworking operator Networkia.
In Frankfurt, the company chose Industrious, while in Sweden it established its office at Convendum. Its Zagreb and Milan teams have both been based at Spaces (IWG), continuing its preference for flexible workspace as it enters new markets.
Once hundreds of employees, engineering teams, customer briefing centers and training facilities become necessary, Databricks transitions from flexible offices to purpose-designed headquarters. Two recent announcements illustrate this philosophy perfectly:
In March 2026 Databricks announced an $850 million UK investment over three years. The company will relocate into a new 13.500 m2 headquarters in the London Fitzrovia district. One of the biggest deal in the city, this year. The new building will: increase office space by roughly four times; house more than 500 employees immediately; support growth to over 1,000 employees, accommodate a growing local research and development organization; serve as the central EMEA headquarters.
The Netherlands tells a similar story. As Databricks’ Benelux business expanded, the company announced a new 13.000 m2 Amsterdam headquarters. The new building spans 11 floors and dramatically increases capacity for engineering, customer success, sales and collaboration with partners.
The new campus is intended to support future growth across the Benelux region while strengthening Amsterdam’s position as one of Databricks’ primary European engineering centres.
The workplace philosophy closely matches the company’s engineering culture. Databricks emphasizes rapid experimentation, customer proximity and cross-functional collaboration. Coworking supports these objectives by allowing teams to:
– enter new markets rapidly;
– recruit before long-term leases are justified;
– expand or contract with hiring needs;
– locate close to customers;
– postpone significant capital commitments until growth is predictable.
Once employee numbers become large enough to justify specialized facilities—executive briefing centers, training spaces, engineering labs and customer experience environments—the company transitions into dedicated headquarters designed around collaboration rather than simply maximizing desk density.
Pic source: Databricks Amsterdam
