Databricks, the $100 billion-valued AI data storage and analytics company, wants to help nurture fledgling companies. On Thursday, the company said it’s launching an accelerator program for seed and pre-seed stage AI startups that use Databricks’ tools and platform.

The company will invest up to $250,000 in portfolio companies, which could take several forms, including cash, credits to use the Databricks platform, and credits with outside vendors vetted through the company, such as web designers. The program is a part of Databricks Ventures, the VC arm it started in 2021, which has invested in startups including AI search engine Perplexity and enterprise AI assistant startup Glean.

With the new accelerator, Databricks wants to go beyond standard venture capital, offering companies mentorship from its executives, and helping them grow, in some cases, even before the startup has a product out. “We can do this much better than a traditional VC can,” CEO Ali Ghodsi told Forbes. “The VC does not have 20,000 customers,” he continued, adding that Databricks........

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