Snowflake Vaults to $12 Billion Valuation, Partners with Salesforce

The database unicorn adds two women to board ahead of plans to go public

George Zimmer, founder and chief executive officer of Generation Tux, speaks during the DreamForce Conference in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. Salesforce.com Inc. aims to cut the time its customers spend plugging data into its systems by weaving machine-learning technology from acquisition RelateIQ into its software for managing sales accounts.Photographer: David Paul Morris

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By Nico Grant

February 8, 2020 at 12:14 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Snowflake Inc., a maker of cloud-based databases, raised $479 million in its latest funding round, boosting the company’s valuation to $12.4 billion. It also announced a strategic partnership with Salesforce.com Inc.

Snowflake sells a type of database that compiles information from various sources so it can be analyzed. The company competes against Amazon.com Inc.’s Redshift product as well as those from industry stalwart Oracle Corp., which has stumbled in the cloud-computing market. Snowflake’s use among clients more than tripled in 2019, making it the fastest-growing cloud-based business software product, according to Okta Inc.’s annual Business @ Work report last month. Snowflake’s new valuation will boost it to No. 13 among global startups, according to data from CB Insights. The company previously was valued at $3.9 billion.