The use of big data in business is growing rapidly in Asia Pacific, and Apache SparkTM is one of the most popular tools among companies in the region.
It currently boasts the largest open-source community in big data, with over a thousand contributors from over 250 organizations.
Driving this impressive growth is Databrick, a company launched by the creators of Apache SparkTM that is now focusing specifically on Asia Pacific; of the thirteen regions that Databrick currently supports, five are located in the region.
Databrick's turnover has grown continuously, generating over $100 million in annual recurring revenue.
Its subscription revenue has tripled during the last quarter of 2018, and much of it comes from Asia Pacific. Moreover, the company has recently raised $498.5 million in funding (partly contributed by Microsoft) to expand into the health, fintech, media, and entertainment sectors in the region.
One of Databrick's great successes in the region is Japan, where it has been adopted by a number of big corporations, including NTT Data Corporation, a partially owned subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, which has been developing systems using Hadoop/Spark since 2008, the early days of Big Data.

Questions for Discussion
1. Why is Databrick expanding in Asia Pacific?
2. Which sectors is Databrick likely to invest in during its expansion in Asia Pacific?