American digital-intelligence firm Databricks has opened a new research and development centre in downtown Vancouver.

The opening is designed to access the region’s tech talent. The global company’s Vancouver team will first work on critical projects, including AI/business intelligence initiatives, real-time analytics and next-generation enterprise-data applications.

“With Vancouver’s heritage as one of the birthplaces for analytics, the city has a deep pool of data and AI talent for Databricks to draw from,” said  Ken Wong, the firm’s senior director of product management, in a blog post. “We envision Vancouver becoming a key hub for some of our most strategic efforts at Databricks.”

Wong is leading the new centre. He previously founded Vancouver-based Datajoy, which was acquired by Databricks in 2022.

He said the company will announce more Vancouver centre job openings in coming weeks and months.

Databricks was spun out of the University of Toronto. Earlier this month, San Francisco-based Databricks signed a term sheet for its Series K funding round, which values the company at about US$100 billion.

Databricks plans to use the capital injection to accelerate its AI strategy.

Photo: LinkedIn/Databricks