Databricks and Euroventures Invest in Datapao to Close the Gap Between AI Ambition and Execution

Budapest, July 22, 2025

As enterprises worldwide accelerate efforts to adopt generative and agentic AI, many still face a fundamental challenge: the lack of a scalable data foundation and internal capabilities to turn AI strategies into real-world outcomes.

According to a May 2025 BCG survey, while 72% of employees use AI regularly, only about half of frontline teams do, and most organisations fail to redesign workflows to fully realise AI’s potential. In a separate July 2025 Qlik report, only 11% of businesses said they’ve seen real returns from AI, with 44% citing a major disconnect between perceived value and actual results due to data silos and lack of integration.

Even among leaders, confidence is low. A recent Databricks and Economist Impact study found that although 85% of global enterprises use generative AI (GenAI) in at least one function, only 37% of executives believe their GenAI applications are production-ready. That figure drops to 29% among practitioners, who cite challenges like cost (41%), skills (40%), quality (37%), and governance (33%).

Datapao was founded in 2016 to address a challenge that kept repeating inside enterprises. While many had ambitious plans for AI, few had the data platform or internal capabilities to deliver on them.

The founding team – engineers and educators working hands-on with complex data projects – saw the same challenge. Data was scattered, infrastructure couldn’t scale, and teams weren’t equipped to move beyond pilots. The gap between AI ambition and execution was wide and growing.

“We saw the same issue everywhere: promising use cases with no scalable platform to run them,” said Mate Gulyas, CEO and Founder of Datapao. “So, we started to build modern data platforms – on Databricks – and train the teams who use them. Without both, GenAI doesn’t leave the lab.”

Over the past eight years, Datapao has become one of Databricks’ earliest and most experienced partners in Europe, working closely with enterprises across industries to lay the technical and organisational foundations for data and AI.

That track record now enters a new phase, as Databricks, alongside the prominent European growth investor Euroventures, made a strategic investment in Datapao. Absolvo, an advisory firm with deep expertise in tech and growth capital investments across the CEE region, supported the deal. The funding will support the company’s continued expansion, enhancing its ability to deliver scalable GenAI solutions and build long-term capabilities within enterprise data teams.

A Missing Link in the AI Revolution

While the AI hype cycle accelerates, few talk about what’s missing beneath the surface: the infrastructure, workflows, and capabilities required to operationalise GenAI, especially for companies outside the digital elite. Datapao is tackling exactly this challenge.

The company supports enterprise clients with a three-pillar approach:

• Strategic Consulting – helping organisations identify high-impact use cases and design scalable architectures;
• Production-Grade Implementation – deploying secure, modern data platforms and AI pipelines using tools like Vector Search, RAG, and agentic AI;
• Workforce Enablement – upskilling data and IT teams through Databricks-authorised trainings and tailored enterprise education programs.
  

This combined focus on platform and people has made Datapao a uniquely effective partner for enterprises looking to move beyond pilots and deploy AI at scale, particularly in highly regulated, data-intensive sectors like financial services, manufacturing, and energy.

Backed by the Best

Datapao has already supported hundreds of organisations globally – from fast-scaling innovators to established enterprises – helping them modernise legacy platforms, unlock data, and deploy AI foundations at scale.

Now, with the backing of Databricks and Euroventures, the company is expanding its mission.

“Datapao has been a trusted partner for many years, consistenly helping our joint customers realize data modernization on the Databricks Data Intellingence Platform, says Kori O’Brien, Senior Vice President, Global Partners at Databricks. “This investment from Databricks Ventures will accelerate their speed to market and empower them to deliver value to customers faster.” 

“Euroventures has been investing successfully in enterprise software and data solutions for many years. The obvious next step is enterprise data platforms that productionize and make a reality of AI beyond the hype. Datapao, with its deep data platform expertise, strong management, and fast growth, is the best possible European professional services company to deliver these platforms to forward-looking companies.” said Thomas Howells, partner at Euroventures.

What’s Next

Datapao will use the funding to:

• Accelerate Databricks migration programs to help customers bring the missing data for AI use-cases.
• Launch a new wave of GenAI learning programs to accelerate enterprise upskilling.
• Expand its consulting footprint in the financial services sector, where safe, scalable AI has become a strategic priority;

From Promise to Production

As Databricks leads the way in democratizing data and AI, investments like this underscore a critical realisation: AI will only deliver on its promise when more organisations can build the data platforms to use it effectively.

“Everyone’s talking about the AI revolution. But the revolution will stall if most enterprises can’t participate,” added Gulyas. “Our mission is to bring GenAI down to earth – to make it practical, scalable, and trusted for every organisation. This investment helps us deliver on that mission.”

About Datapao

Datapao is a global data and AI consultancy and training provider helping enterprises productionize GenAI by aligning strategy, infrastructure, and internal capabilities. With deep technical expertise, hands-on delivery, and education-first thinking, Datapao works across consulting, implementation, and workforce development to drive real business impact from data and AI. 

About Databricks Ventures

Databricks Ventures invests in innovative companies that share our view of the future for data, analytics and AI. Our focus is on supporting early- and growth-stage companies that are empowering AI in innovative ways on top of or alongside the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. These companies share our vision for an open ecosystem and our commitment to harnessing the power of data intelligence to create the next generation of data and AI-powered companies.

About Euroventures

Netherlands-based Euroventures, advised from Budapest, is a leading Central European institutional venture capital investor, with a proven track record of international exits over three decades.  Past investments in data and professional services have included such successes as EPAM (NYSE), SequenceIQ (Cloudera), Banzai (Cisco) and DataArt.