Starburst
Starburst sells a Trino-based SQL engine that queries data across clouds and lakehouses without moving it.
On the record
Checkpoint: Next NDR and growth disclosure, watch for compression below 110-115% or deceleration below 25-30%
The call
Starburst is growing fast and holding its banking base, but Snowflake and Databricks are now building the exact federation features it was sold on.
Starburst is a software company that helps banks and other large organizations access data stored in different cloud services (like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure) without being locked into one vendor. It has real customers, including four of the five biggest U.S. banks, and is growing fast. The problem is that Snowflake and Databricks, which are much larger competitors, just launched their own versions of Starburst's main feature. Starburst built its reputation on an open-source project called Trino and deep relationships with banks, but those advantages are now being directly challenged. The one thing that could change everything is whether Starburst can keep its banking customers loyal over the next year or two, or whether those customers switch to Snowflake or Databricks because they prefer buying from one vendor instead of multiple companies.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI agents need federated query access to run, so AI demand feeds Starburst's growth rather than replacing it, at least for now. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Snowflake and Databricks. Both have shipped native Iceberg and federation features, attacking the cross-cloud query job Starburst was built to own. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Deep entrenchment in 4 of the top 5 US banks plus Trino open-source stewardship makes ripping Starburst out costly and slow.
What would change this call
Starburst's next reported net dollar retention figure (currently 130%). A drop toward or below 110-115% would show banking and enterprise customers narrowing spend.
A named top-5 US bank publicly moving federated queries to Snowflake or Databricks native tools. Would confirm Starburst losing ground in its strongest regulated-industry stronghold.
A new priced primary funding round for Starburst and its valuation versus the $3.35B 2022 mark. A flat or down round would signal investors doubt Starburst can hold its moat against Snowflake/Databricks.
A named top-5 US bank publicly moving federated queries to Snowflake or Databricks native tools. Would confirm Starburst losing ground in its strongest regulated-industry stronghold.
A new priced primary funding round for Starburst and its valuation versus the $3.35B 2022 mark. A flat or down round would signal investors doubt Starburst can hold its moat against Snowflake/Databricks.
Key numbers
- $100M ARR, 40% YoY growth
- 130% net dollar retention
- Valuation estimates split $1.0B to $3.4B
Named risks
- Snowflake and Databricks eroding Starburst's core neutral-federation value proposition with native Iceberg features.
- Stale $3.35B valuation from Feb 2022 with no confirmed new priced round amid diverging secondary-market estimates.
- Headcount still below 2023 peak of 620 after 2023 layoffs, signaling uneven scaling.
- Category consolidation (e.g. Dremio-SAP) could pressure Starburst to be acquired or lose independent leverage.
- Reliance on company-reported metrics (ARR, NDR, AI run rate) with no independent audit.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Snowflake | contesting | Shipped native Iceberg plus federation features directly rivaling Starburst's pitch, as of 2026-06-02 |
| Databricks | contesting | Shipped native Iceberg plus federation features and deeper Unity Catalog overlap noted by 2026-06-15 |
| Dremio | gaining on | Reported acquired by SAP around 2026-03-09, removing a direct lakehouse-query rival but signaling consolidation |
Questions people ask
- Is Starburst profitable in 2026?
- Profitability is not disclosed. Starburst reports crossing $100M ARR with 40% YoY growth as of February 18, 2026 (company-claimed), but as a private company it does not publish net income or profitability figures, so financial sustainability beyond revenue growth remains unconfirmed.
- How much is Starburst worth in 2026?
- Starburst's last confirmed primary valuation is $3.35B from its February 2022 Series D round. A May 2025 Citi strategic investment amount was undisclosed. No new priced primary round has been publicly confirmed as of mid 2026, so the $3.35B figure remains the last official mark.
- Who is Starburst's biggest competitor?
- Starburst's biggest competitive pressure comes from Snowflake and Databricks, both of which shipped native Iceberg plus federation features as of June 2, 2026, directly challenging Starburst's vendor-neutral query federation pitch. Dremio was also a direct rival before reportedly being absorbed by SAP around March 2026.
- Could AI replace Starburst?
- Unlikely to be replaced outright: Starburst's connector ecosystem (30+ sources), bank-grade governance, and Trino stewardship are hard to automate away. Instead, Starburst is building AI into its own product, reporting a $20M AI-specific annual run rate as of February 18, 2026 (company-claimed).
- Is Starburst still growing in 2026?
- Yes, per its own February 18, 2026 press release, Starburst reported over $100M ARR with roughly 40% YoY growth, 130% net dollar retention, and about 85% YoY growth in its financial services vertical, though these are company-reported figures.
- What is Starburst's relationship to Trino?
- Starburst commercializes and stewards Trino, the open-source distributed SQL query engine descended from Facebook's Presto project. Starburst was spun out of Teradata in December 2017 to commercialize Presto, and celebrated Trino's 10th anniversary on August 8, 2022.
Timeline
- 2026-06-15Released Starburst Enterprise 480-e LTS with multi-cluster architecture and enhanced AI Agent
- 2026-06-02Report noted Snowflake and Databricks both shipped native Iceberg plus federation features
- 2026-05-27Launched Enterprise Intelligence Platform with AIDA reaching general availability at AI & Datanova
- 2026-03-09Starburst Galaxy update added Icehouse architecture and AIDA foundations; referenced Dremio-SAP deal
- 2026-02-18Starburst announced crossing $100M ARR, 40% YoY growth, 130% NDR (company-claimed)
- 2025-12-31Headcount recovered to 481 employees, up 8.8% YoY from 441 in 2024
- 2025-10-08Unveiled AI-Ready Data Platform for the agentic workforce
- 2025-05Citi made an undisclosed-amount strategic investment via its Markets Innovation and Investments division
- 2025-05Launched Starburst AI Agent, AI Workflows, AI Search, and Data Catalog metastore
- 2023-06-28Starburst laid off approximately 15% of staff
Revision history
21 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Starburst Crosses $100M ARR (2026-02-18)
- Starburst Valuation Climbs To $3.35B
- How Much Did Starburst Raise? (2026-05-22)
- Starburst Stock for Accredited Investors (2026-07-07)
- Query Layer 2026: Snowflake vs Databricks vs Starburst (2026-06-02)
- Starburst Galaxy: AI on Iceberg Foundations (2026-03-09)
- Starburst Data Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Why Your Data Lakehouse Is the Core of Your AI Strategy (2026-05-27)
- Starburst Unveils AI-Ready Data Platform (2025-10-08)
- Starburst Enterprise 480-e LTS (2026-06-15)
- Starburst Unveils Enterprise Intelligence Platform (2026-05-27)