List of Top 20 Salesforce Acquisitions

Salesforce — a major player in the enterprise software world —brings innovations to its customers and stakeholders. Salesforce acquisitions and mergers are a core value of the company.

Now, the number of all Salesforce acquisitions is about 60 in SaaS, Enterprise Tech, and other sectors. In this article, we discuss the largest Salesforce acquisitions from the oldest to the most recent ones.

List of the Largest Salesforce Acquisitions:

• Slack – $27.7B, Dec 1, 2020
• Tableau – $15.7B, Jun 10, 2019
• MuleSoft – $6.5B, Mar 20, 2018
• Demandware – $2.8B, Jun 1, 2016
• ExactTarget – $2.5B, Jun 4, 2013
• ClickSoftware – $1.35B, Aug 7, 2019
• Vlocity – $1.33B, Feb 26, 2020
• Krux – $800M, Oct 3, 2016
• Quip – $750M, Aug 1, 2016
• Buddy Media – $649M, Jun 4, 2012
• Datorama – $800M, July 16, 2018
• SalesforceIQ – $390M, July 11, 2014
• Heroku – $212M, Dec 8, 2010
• Radian6 – $276M, May 2, 2011
• SendGrid – $2B, Feb 5, 2019
• MapAnything – $225M, May 30, 2019
• Acumen Solutions – $570M, Dec 01, 2020
• PredictionIO – undisclosed, Feb 19, 2016
• Bonobo AI – $45M, May 15, 2019
• Spiff – undisclosed, Feb 1, 2024

Let’s dive deep into the list of Salesforce acquisitions.

Slack

• Acquisition date: Dec 1, 2020
• Price: $27.7B

Slack is one of the biggest players on the list of Salesforce acquisitions. This merger — known as Slack-First Customer 360 — promotes productivity, connections, and stable work in an all-digital environment. In the outcome, Salesforce users have access to collaboration tools, to contact team members, clients, and partners via video and messages.

Now, in your digital HQ there are clouds for everything, and insights from other Salesforce mergers and acquisitions:

1. Slack-First Sales: Digital Deal Rooms, Daily Briefs;
2. Slack-First Service: Swarming, Expert Finder;
3. Slack-First Marketing: Datorama Insights, Workflow Notifications;
4. Slack-First Analytics: Notifications, Watchlist Digests.

Slack Salesforce acquisition | Author: Andreea Doroftei

Tableau

• Acquisition date: Jun 10, 2019
• Price: $15.7

Tableau Salesforce acquisition boosts building of a strong data foundation for digital businesses. The merger of the world’s #1 CRM with the world’s #1 analytics platform helps companies view real-time customer data, as well as turn disturbed data into insights.

Salesforce acquisition of Tableau delivers AI-driven analytics for sales, marketing, and service in CRM together with Salesforce Einstein. Tableau Salesforce acquisition brings benefits to Salesforce Customer 360:

• Scale data
• Forecast trends
• Compute direct and in-memory data
• Access web and mobile data analytics
• Generate out-of-the-box analytic reports

The laser-focused blend of Salesforce with Tableau aids companies to direct the sales team in the right direction.

Tableau Viz Lightning Web Component | Source: Tableau

MuleSoft

• Acquisition date: Mar 20, 2018
• Price: $6.5B

Another service on the list of Salesforce acquisitions is MuleSoft. MuleSoft has been a core part of Salesforce’s Integration Cloud since 2018.

1. Customer service: The MuleSoft integration into Salesforce aids to track customer experience for future improvements.
2. Data analytics: When data is being retrieved in real time, Salesforce scans it, while MuleSoft takes care of transformation, such as field mappings and conversions to the necessary data sets. This way all issues are prevented, and data remains consistent.
3. Seamless integration: In MuleSoft Salesforce integration the former bridges the gap between all the existing data, and the latter operates on it.

Additionally, Salesforce released MuleSoft Composer – a non-code integration tool for seamless data automation with click not code.

Demandware

• Acquisition date: Jun 1, 2016
• Price: $2.8B

Demandware Salesforce acquisition was a big step into the B2C market back in 2016. Demandware – a leader in the digital commerce market – helped Salesforce to target retail B2C activities, making it more competitive against platforms like Shopify and Amazon.

Salesforce has a good eye for introducing personalized solutions, eCommerce was their investment in the future trends.

Demandware Salesforce acquisition offers cloud-based eCommerce services. Meaning, users can attract new clients with direct access to marketing and analytic services in the CRM. This collaboration led to the creation of the Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This platform helps retailers to build strong customer relationships, use digital engagement channels, and provide personalized experiences.

ExactTarget

• Acquisition date: Jun 4, 2013
• Price: $2.5B

Back in 2013 ExactTarget appeared on the list of Salesforce acquisitions. ExactTarget provides Salesforce with a toolkit of marketing automation services for effective campaign management.

This collaboration is the most integrated of all Salesforce mergers and acquisitions. Prior to 2013, ExactTarget acquired Pardot, a B2B marketing automation solution. Eventually, it allowed Salesforce to expand into the marketing department, and grow Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

All in all, ExactTarget significantly expanded Salesforce’s abilities in the marketing arena.

ClickSoftware

• Acquisition date: Aug 7, 2019
• Price: $1.35B

Out of all Salesforce acquisitions ClickSoftware has been a pioneer in the field service for over two decades. In 2019, ClickSoftware joined Salesforce to enhance the management space. The following merger introduced Salesforce Field Service Lightning (FSL), which provides quality customer service. Thanks to ClickSoftware’s acquisition, Salesforce FSL can attract ISV solutions.

Since the acquisition, Salesforce has invested in advanced scheduling and location tech for contactless service models, highly valuable during the COVID-19 and post-pandemic. A recent feature in collaboration — Visual Remote Assistant — perfect for troubleshooting issues through videos between agents and customers.

Vlocity

• Acquisition date: Feb 26, 2020
• Price: $1.33B

Vlocity is one of Salesforce recent acquisitions from 2019. The idea behind the merger was to expand Salesforce’s range of sector-specific solutions. Vlocity bridged the gap for Salesforce in the following fields, such as communications, media, and utilities. The outcome: the launch of the Salesforce Industries.

The benefits of Salesforce acquiring Vlocity:

• Enterprise product catalog (EPC)
• Order management
• Digital commerce

Krux

• Acquisition date: Oct 3, 2016
• Price: $800M

Krux is in the top 10 Salesforce acquisitions of all time. The service specializes in marketing and Adtech, as well as management, and data analysis. With this acquisition Salesforce enhanced Data Management Platforms (DMPs). DMPs are directed into adverts optimization using customer and interaction data.

Moreover, with the collaboration Salesforce created a Marketing Cloud tool, known as Audience Studio, for efficient marketing and ad campaigns.

Quip

• Acquisition date: Aug 1, 2016
• Price: $750M

Back in 2016, Salesforce Quip acquisition aimed to improve document processing and collaboration within the platform. This collaboration upgraded document processing. Not only can Salesforce users store information, but also share their CRM records.

Quip Salesforce acquisition offers a cloud-based management solution:

• Seamless collaboration in documents and spreadsheets within the platform
• Effective document storage
• Integration of CRM data into documents

Salesforce Quip acquisition launched Live Apps that offers interactive features, such as calendars, checklists, and videos. From 2021, this merger is known under the ‘Salesforce Anywhere’ name, which focuses to boost collaboration across records, real-time communication, and alerts.

Quip Salesforce Dashboard | Source: Quip

Buddy Media

• Acquisition date: Jun 4, 2012
• Price: $649M

Buddy Media Salesforce acquisition took place in 2012 for $689 million aiming to improve social media management. Buddy Media has it in its name — a social media marketing platform that helps to build and maintain relationships with customers.

Buddy Media Salesforce acquisition offers a wide range of tools for creating, managing, and measuring campaigns.

Datorama

• Acquisition date: July 16, 2018
• Price: $800M

Datorama Salesforce acquisition joined the ecosystem in 2018. As a result, Salesforce gained a cloud-based marketing intelligence platform, which allows customers to analyze marketing data quickly, providing valuable insights. Additionally, with Datorama’s AI-powered platform, Salesforce strengthened its Marketing Cloud.

SalesforceIQ

• Acquisition date: July 11, 2014
• Price: $390M

Another cloud-based CRM platform on the list of Salesforce acquisitions is SalesforceIQ. This collaboration simplifies customer relationship management, boosts the CRM space, and manages prospect.

Salesforce IQ Salesforce | Source: resonatehq.com

Heroku

• Acquisition date: Dec 8, 2010
• Price: $212M

One of the longest Salesforce mergers and acquisitions is Heroku. In 2010 this collaboration helped Salesforce to gain a significant presence in the platform-as-a-service (PaaS) space.

Heroku allows users to deploy and manage applications quickly. Moreover, by integrating Heroku into the Salesforce ecosystem, it supports a wider range of developers, including those working with Java and Ruby.

Radian6

• Acquisition date: May 2, 2011
• Price: $276M

When Salesforce acquired Radian6 in 2011, it enhanced its ability to understand and engage with customers on social media. Radian6, a social media monitoring company, provides Salesforce with tools to track social media conversations across multiple platforms, enabling better customer engagement and insight into the social media landscape.

SendGrid

• Acquisition date: Feb 5, 2019
• Price: $2M

SendGrid, one of the Salesforce recent acquisitions in 2019, is a cloud-based email delivery platform. This merger allows customers to effortlessly send and manage their email communications. It represents a significant enhancement to Salesforce’s email delivery space, providing customers with a comprehensive suite of tools for managing their email communications effectively.

MapAnything

• Acquisition date: May 30, 2019
• Price: $225M

MapAnything other service that joined Salesforce acquisitions in 2019, brought geo-spatial capabilities to the CRM creating Salesforce Maps.

MapAnything Salesforce

This merger improved Salesforce’s location-based intelligence offerings and optimized sales processes. The benefits of this collaboration are:

• Enhanced Location Intelligence: Salesforce Maps enables users to visualize and manage sales territories using geographic data from Salesforce CRM, aiding in location-driven decisions and territory planning.
• Improved Sales Efficiency: Sales reps can view sales data, including revenue and activity metrics, on a map-based interface within their territories. They can create optimized sales routes to visit customers and prospects efficiently, maximizing productivity.
• Seamless Integration with Salesforce CRM: Salesforce Maps integrates seamlessly with Salesforce CRM, allowing users to access and update data from any device.

Acumen Solutions

• Acquisition date: Dec 01, 2020
• Price: $570M

Acumen Solutions is one of the 2021 Salesforce acquisitions which made the list of consulting partners, like ATKA, Kerensen Consulting, and others.

This move aids Salesforce ecosystem to be more geographically well spread and offer its professionals to customers. Acumen’s expertise in Salesforce across various sectors, including the public sector and manufacturing, helps Salesforce’s customers transform their businesses digitally.

PredictionIO

• Acquisition date: Feb 19, 2016
• Price: undisclosed

PredictionIO, acquired by Salesforce in 2016, is an open-source machine learning server built on top of Apache Spark, HBase, and Spray.

With the acquisition, Salesforce enhanced its artificial intelligence capabilities and predictive analytics to its customers. Additionally, PredictionIO’s technology was integrated into Salesforce’s Einstein AI platform, allowing users to build and deploy predictive models for various use cases, including lead scoring, churn prediction, and recommendation systems.

Bonobo AI

• Acquisition date: May 15, 2019
• Price: $45M

Adding to the list of AI-focused Salesforce acquisitions, Bonobo AI made the cut in 2019. This platform specializes in conversational AI technology, particularly in analyzing sales conversations and providing insights to improve sales performance.

Salesforce integrated Bonobo AI’s technology into its Sales Cloud, allowing sales teams to leverage AI-driven insights to enhance customer interactions and drive better sales outcomes.

Spiff

• Acquisition date: Feb 1, 2024
• Price: undisclosed

One of Salesforce recent acquisitions is Spiff, a company that specializes in software for incentive compensation management (ICM) software.

Spiff Salesforce acquisition simplifies ICM by combining spreadsheet-like usability with powerful automation. Users can connect their sales data and calculate commissions in real-time. Salesforce Spiff acquisition offers enhanced commission calculation capabilities to its customers, improving their sales performance and streamlining their processes.

Salesforce Spiff | Source: Salesforce

Salesforce’s Next Acquisition: Informatica

One of the recent potential Salesforce acquisitions is Informatica. Reportedly, Salesforce was in talks to merge with Informatica, a cloud-based enterprise data management company. The collaboration aimed to strengthen Salesforce’s ability to share and exchange data, especially in healthcare, by improving its compatibility with HL7 and HIPAA services.

However, neither company has confirmed the deal.

Salesforce AI Acquisitions

Salesforce AI acquisitions is one of the ways to stay ahead and collaborate with the latest technology. Not to mention that Salesforce itself keeps improving its AI arsenal. A recent launch in the on-the-fly tech — Einstein Copilot.

Salesforce made two acquisitions in 2023. They acquired Airkit, an AI-based agent that interacts directly with customers, enhancing Commerce Cloud capabilities. Additionally, they acquired Spiff, a commission management platform, to strengthen core Sales Cloud features.

Competing with technical giants like Microsoft and Amazon is a challenge that Salesforce is ready to accept by merging and acquiring AI platforms and other services.

Salesforce has invested in 10 AI startups in 2023:

• Protect AI – $35 million
• Sylvera – $50 million
• Pano AI – $17 million
• Typeface – $100
• Runway – $141 million
• Anthropic – $400 million
• Simpplr – $70 million
• Cohere – $270 million
• Hearth AI – early-stage funding
• Faros AI – $20 million

This way Salesforce stays with and ahead of advanced tech.

Reasons Why Salesforce Acquires Businesses

Salesforce’s strategy of acquiring businesses plays a crucial role in its growth and market leadership. There are five main reasons behind Salesforce acquisitions:

Salesforce Acquisitions: Pros and Cons

Salesforce’s acquisition strategy has brought both benefits and challenges to the company. Here are some of the pros and cons:

Pros:

• Helping the company grow in new and innovative ways, expanding its reach into new markets;
• Professional grow opportunities within Salesforce;
• Contribution to the growth of existing businesses, benefiting the economy.

Cons:

• Possible corporate culture differences during integration;
• Time-consuming services integration;
• Financial risks.

Salesforce Acquisitions: Pros and Cons

Final Words

The curated list features the largest Salesforce acquisitions and mergers from Slack, Tableau, and MuleSoft to SendGrid, MapAnything, and Spiff. These acquisitions have expanded Salesforce’s capabilities in various sectors, from collaboration tools, document processing to data analytics, social media management, and email delivery.

At Ascendix, our team of experts specializes in streamlining complex Salesforce processes. With over 20 years of experience across diverse industries and a proven track record of client satisfaction, we’re here to help you make the most out of your Salesforce investment.

Simply reach out to book a free CRM consulting call, and we’ll guide you through optimizing your Salesforce usage.