Some company goals sound sensible when you write them down. Others sound slightly mad. Earning investment from Databricks Ventures was one of the second kind, and now it’s real: Advancing Analytics is a Databricks Ventures portfolio company. Tercera invested alongside Databricks Ventures, and this follows our recent investment from Lead Edge Capital.
Nothing about our direction changes. This is recognition of work that’s been going on for years: the engineering, the customer delivery and the community that grew up around both. What does change is how closely we get to work with Databricks.
We sat down with our founders, Terry McCann (CEO) and Simon Whiteley (CTO), to talk about how we got here, why now, and what this means for us, our customers, and the community.
What's the significance of being the first UK consultancy to receive investment from Databricks Ventures?
Terry: “Securing investment from Databricks Ventures was a lofty goal we set a few years ago. We’ve seen other partners achieve this in the US, but there was nothing like that here. Doubling down on Databricks was one of the best decisions we've made. Everything since has been built on that choice: the team we hired, the skills we invested in and the customers we’ve been trusted to work with.
Now we're a Databricks Gold Partner, have 6 Brickbuilder specialisations, and about 15 Databricks MVPs on the team. It really was a group effort, and I'm hugely proud of the team."
Simon: “We’ve invested heavily in our team and capabilities built on Databricks, and securing investment makes our strategic partnership even stronger. We’re all-in on the platform, we're aligned their mission to make data & AI accessible to everyone within an organisation."
What's changed in the market that makes this timing make sense?
Terry: “Ultimately, it’s about demand. Databricks is moving from being a data platform to being a governed data and AI ecosystem, and our customers are embracing that shift. But it’s a brave new world, and they’re looking for advice they can trust. Bringing more workloads onto the platform, and helping customers make the most of what it can now do, is the work we care about most."
Simon: “Every data & AI platform is carving out a position right now, and that constant shift creates a lot of uncertainty. Databricks has positioned itself well, right at the centre.
Many of the businesses we work with are migrating their data platform to Databricks, and preparing their data estates is critical for AI applications. The power ultimately comes when you consolidate the data into one unified platform, bringing the functionality of Databricks closer to the business outcomes. With Databricks' position, we’re constantly keeping up-to-date and developing the technical skills required, which ensure we’re agile enough to adapt to the next big thing."
Has Advancing’s journey exceeded your original expectations?
Terry: “Absolutely! I often think back to when we first got onboarded into the Databricks partner programme, well before the current version with Gold, Silver & Bronze tiers. At this point there were just three of us in the company, and our ambition was to reach 10 people.
Fast forward to 2026 and we're now 125 people and rapidly growing! Our trajectory for 2030 is to triple in size as the team expands in Europe and the U.S East coast. So yeah, we've far exceeded what we set out to achieve and hopefully also Databricks’ expectation of what Advancing could become."
Simon: “We realised early on that our clients often wanted a service that extended beyond advisory - so we expanded to be able to deliver the whole solution end-to-end. Our journey has been, and always will be, a testament to how great the team is. Did we expect to be in this position? The honest answer is no! But we’re entirely grateful, to our team, our customers and of course Databricks”.
What were some of the milestones in getting the business where it is today?
Terry: “There are so many to choose from! Hiring some of our key people was a milestone - Gavi Regunath (Chief AI Officer) and Marc Garraway (COO) stand out in particular. Looking back, Simon becoming a Databricks Champion, and getting our first big multinational customer are two other milestones."
Simon: “For me, a highlight was starting our YouTube channel. We began with a simple idea, and when it reached 1000 subscribers, I knew we'd created something big. But we never imagined it would reach where we are today at over 46,000 subscribers. Being useful to the community has shaped the company as much as any commercial decision. I’m also immensely proud of our growing IP portfolio, especially LakeForge, which helps create Lakeflow pipelines at scale using agentic AI”.
Is there was anything you would have done differently?
Terry: “I don't think so - I’m a firm believer of never looking back. I'm incredibly proud of everything and every single person who’s played a part in what we’ve achieved.
To reference a famous quote from Steve Jobs which I wholeheartedly endorse, "you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards". I think that's so very true for Advancing. We always say every year at Advancing Analytics was like running an entirely different company. I would never go back and change it - never.”
Simon: “With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see the things we should have done sooner - but that could have changed the trajectory of the company. We’ve had an amazing journey so far; thank you to everyone who has made this possible”.
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If it wasn't clear, we're really excited about this investment - you can read more about it here.
And if you want to hear more from Terry and Simon, they recorded a fireside chat about the investment and Advancing's journey - including things they've never shared publicly before!
