GVR Pod: Making sense of data

If it hasn’t already been clear for at least the past decade, there is certainly no doubt of it today: data run the world.

It is embedded into every facet of life: informing us, informing the systems that inform us, informing countless other actors – both public and private – about us. Gargantuan mountains of data are out there waiting to be sorted, analysed and put into action. But how do you best organise all that data – especially if you’re a business – in a way that can make it as useful and impactful as possible? That is what Databricks does, and that’s what its CVC arm, Databricks Ventures, helps startups to do.

On today’s episode I speak to Andrew Ferguson, vice president for corporate development and ventures at Databricks, about why the firm doesn’t lead rounds or take board seats, how AI and machine learning are gamechangers for data, and the challenges of assessing how future-proofed companies are in the sector.