ClickHouse Valued at $6.35 Billion

A few weeks ago, The Information reported that ClickHouse was in the process of raising a new funding round at a $6 billion valuation. I covered that in detail in this note. Now we have official confirmation from ClickHouse — and, importantly, the company has also disclosed the size of the round: $350 million. According to Bloomberg, ClickHouse’s post-money valuation now stands at $6.35 billion.

Implications for Nebius

For me, the most important question — beyond the size of the round — was whether Nebius participated in it.

According to ClickHouse’s press release:

“with participation from new investors BOND, IVP, Battery Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as existing investors including Index Ventures, Lightspeed, GIC, Benchmark, Coatue, FirstMark, and Nebius.”

This wording implies that Nebius joined the new round. This information was recently confirmed by Nebius in a separate press release.

Assuming it invested pro rata to maintain its 28% stake, that would mean a contribution of around $98 million. As a result, the fair value of Nebius’s stake in ClickHouse now stands at approximately $1.78 billion — or $7.40 per share. That’s a solid mark. The bigger question is: how soon can this stake be monetized?

Should We Expect a Liquidity Event?

Not likely this year. The stake is too large to sell quickly on the secondary market. In its Q1 2025 shareholder letter, Nebius wrote:

“Should ClickHouse have a liquidity event in the near-to-mid term, this would provide us with significant capital to invest into our core business.”

This clearly signals that Nebius is not planning to sell its stake on the secondary market. Instead, it’s waiting for a more meaningful liquidity event — most likely an IPO or a strategic acquisition of ClickHouse.

Still, I don’t expect either to happen within the next 12 months. ClickHouse is not quite IPO-ready yet, and even in the event of an IPO, Nebius would likely be limited in how much of its 28% stake it could sell. A full acquisition, on the other hand, would offer a cleaner and faster exit for Nebius.

Is an acquisition likely? Possibly, but not immediately. Having just closed an investment round, ClickHouse now has the capital to keep scaling. It makes more sense for the company to focus on growth first and revisit M&A or IPO opportunities later — ideally at a higher valuation.

Bottom Line

Regardless of when Nebius eventually exits, its participation in this round is clearly a positive development. With ClickHouse continuing to grow, the 28% stake could well end up being worth significantly more than the current $1.78 billion.

Also, a quick heads-up: my new article on Nebius’s Q1 2025 earnings is now live on Seeking Alpha. Check it out if you haven’t yet.