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Celebrating the Winners of the 2026 Built-On Databricks Startup Challenge
Andrew Ferguson, Joslyn O'Connell, Sully Clark
- Source
- Databricks
- Published
- Added to Yomu
Summary
The 2026 Built-On Databricks Startup Challenge recognized early-stage startups building B2B applications on Databricks, with winners presented at the 2026 Data + AI Summit. VisionHeight won the Grand Prize for an agentic threat-intelligence platform that maps adversary infrastructure across the Internet while it is being constructed, aiming to give defenders earlier warning. Linkup took second place with a production-grade Web Search API that independently crawls and indexes the open web at the fact level, delivering sourced results in about two seconds. Intelo placed third with five coordinated AI Agent Teams covering retail merchandising and planning, while Clarecast, Gemini Sports, and LakeFusion received Honorable Mentions. Judges assessed market potential, founding-team caliber, and innovative Databricks use; the announced Startup Program also offers qualifying startups up to $200,000 in combined Databricks and Neon credits.
Context
The competition brought together early-stage startups building B2B applications on the Databricks platform. Applicants were evaluated on market potential, founding team caliber, and innovative use of Databricks.
Approach / What changed
The challenge recognized three winners and three Honorable Mentions after a judging process, with finalists presenting their solutions live at the 2026 Data + AI Summit. The announced Databricks Startup Program offer provides qualifying startups with up to $200,000 in credits across Databricks and Neon.
Takeaways
- VisionHeight won the Grand Prize with an agentic threat-intelligence platform that maps adversary infrastructure across the Internet while it is being constructed.
- Linkup’s Web Search API independently crawls and indexes the open web at the fact level and delivers sourced results in about two seconds.
- Intelo’s platform uses five AI Agent Teams for retail merchandising and planning, including merchant analytics, financial planning, assortment planning, in-season management, and pricing and promotion.