Publish date:

• 28th May, 2025

Salesforce is a leading company in enterprise software. It focuses on bringing new ideas to its customers and stakeholders. Acquisitions and mergers are essential to Salesforce's mission.

Currently, Salesforce has made about 65 acquisitions in software as a service (SaaS), enterprise technology, and other areas. This article discusses the most significant Salesforce acquisitions, from the oldest to the most recent.

List of the Largest Salesforce Acquisitions:

• Zoomin – $450M, Sep 24, 2024

• Own – $1.9B, Sep 5, 2024

• Tenyx – undisclosed, Sep 3, 2024

• PredictSpring – undisclosed, Aug 2, 2024

• Spiff – undisclosed, Feb 1, 2024

• Acumen Solutions – $570M, Dec 01, 2020

• Slack – $27.7B, Dec 1, 2020

• Vlocity – $1.33B, Feb 26, 2020

• ClickSoftware – $1.35B, Aug 7, 2019

• Tableau – $15.7B, Jun 10, 2019

• MapAnything – $225M, May 30, 2019

• Bonobo AI – $45M, May 15, 2019

• SendGrid – $2B, Feb 5, 2019

• Datorama – $800M, July 16, 2018

• MuleSoft – $6.5B, Mar 20, 2018

• Krux – $800M, Oct 3, 2016

• Quip – $750M, Aug 1, 2016

• Demandware – $2.8B, Jun 1, 2016

• PredictionIO – undisclosed, Feb 19, 2016

• SalesforceIQ – $390M, July 11, 2014

• ExactTarget – $2.5B, Jun 4, 2013

• Buddy Media – $649M, Jun 4, 2012

• Radian6 – $276M, May 2, 2011

• Heroku – $212M, Dec 8, 2010

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

• Acquisition date: Dec 1, 2020

• Price: $27.7B

Salesforce has acquired Slack, a major player in its list of purchases. This merger is called Slack-First Customer 360. It aims to enhance productivity and connections in a digital work environment. With this acquisition, users can access collaboration tools that enable them to communicate with team members, clients, and partners through video and messaging.

Now, in your digital headquarters, there are cloud services for everything. You can also find insights from other Salesforce mergers and acquisitions, like Salesforce's purchase of Slack.

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.

• Acquisition date: Jun 10, 2019

• Price: $15.7

Tableau's acquisition by Salesforce strengthens the creation of a solid data foundation for digital businesses. This merger combines the top CRM with the best analytics platform, enabling companies to access real-time customer data and transform disorganized data into actionable insights.

Salesforce's acquisition of Tableau provides AI-driven analytics for sales, marketing, and customer service within CRM using Salesforce Einstein. This acquisition enhances 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 combination of Salesforce and Tableau helps companies guide their sales teams effectively.

• Acquisition date: Mar 20, 2018

• Price: $6.5B

MuleSoft is part of Salesforce. Salesforce acquired MuleSoft in 2018, and it has been an integral part of 

Salesforce’s Integration Cloud ever since.

• Customer Service: Salesforce's acquisition of MuleSoft enables the tracking of customer experiences to inform future improvements.

• Data analytics: When Salesforce retrieves data in real-time, it scans the information, while MuleSoft handles the transformation, including mapping fields and converting data into the correct formats. This process prevents issues and ensures data consistency.

• Seamless integration: In MuleSoft and Salesforce integration, MuleSoft connects all existing data while Salesforce works with that data.

Salesforce has released MuleSoft Composer, a tool that allows users to automate data without writing any code. Users can easily set up integrations by clicking rather than coding.

• Acquisition date: Jun 1, 2016

• Price: $2.8B

Salesforce purchased Demandware in 2016 to expand into the B2C market. Demandware is a leader in digital commerce, helping Salesforce compete with platforms like Shopify and Amazon in the retail sector.

Salesforce focuses on delivering personalized solutions, and investing in eCommerce aligns with future trends.

The acquisition of Demandware allows Salesforce to offer cloud-based eCommerce services. It means users can attract new customers by accessing marketing and analytics tools within the CRM. This partnership led to the creation of Salesforce Commerce Cloud. This platform enables retailers to build strong customer relationships, utilize digital engagement channels, and deliver personalized experiences.

• Acquisition date: Jun 4, 2013

• Price: $2.5B

In 2013, Salesforce acquired ExactTarget, a provider of marketing automation tools for enhanced campaign management. This acquisition is one of the most integrated in Salesforce's history.

Before being acquired by Salesforce, ExactTarget bought Pardot, a marketing automation solution for businesses. This move enabled Salesforce to enter the marketing sector and contributed to the development of Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

Overall, ExactTarget greatly enhanced Salesforce's marketing capabilities.

• Acquisition date: Aug 7, 2019

• Price: $1.35B

Salesforce acquired ClickSoftware, a leader in field service for over twenty years, in 2019. This merger led to the creation of Salesforce Field Service Lightning (FSL), which enables the delivery of excellent customer service. With ClickSoftware's acquisition, Salesforce FSL can now attract independent software vendor (ISV) solutions.

Since the acquisition, Salesforce has focused on improving scheduling and location technology for contactless service, which has been very important during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A new feature, Visual Remote Assistant, enables agents and customers to resolve issues through video calls.

• Acquisition date: Feb 26, 2020

• Price: $1.33B

Velocity is a company that Salesforce acquired in 2019. This merger aimed to help Salesforce offer more solutions tailored to specific industries. Velocity helped Salesforce enhance its services in areas such as communications, media, and utilities. As a result, Salesforce Industries was launched.

The benefits of Salesforce acquiring Vlocity:

• Enterprise product catalog (EPC)

• Order management

• Digital commerce

• Acquisition date: Oct 3, 2016

• Price: $800M

Krux is one of the top 10 acquisitions made by Salesforce. It specializes in marketing, advertising technology, management, and data analysis. With this acquisition, Salesforce improved its Data Management Platforms (DMPs). DMPs help optimize advertisements by using customer and interaction data.

Additionally, Salesforce developed a Marketing Cloud tool called Audience Studio. This tool helps create more effective marketing and ad campaigns.

• Acquisition date: Aug 1, 2016

• Price: $750M

In 2016, Salesforce acquired Quip to enhance document processing and teamwork within its platform. This acquisition has improved the handling of documents. Now, Salesforce users can store information and easily 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 acquired Quip and launched Live Apps, which offer interactive features like calendars, checklists, and videos. Since 2021, this merger has been referred to as ‘Salesforce Anywhere.’ It aims to enhance collaboration on records, real-time communication, and alerts.

• Acquisition date: Jun 4, 2012

• Price: $649M

In 2012, Salesforce acquired Buddy Media for $689 million to enhance its social media management capabilities. Buddy Media is a social media marketing platform that helps businesses build and maintain customer relationships.

The Buddy Media Salesforce acquisition provides a variety of tools for creating, managing, and measuring marketing campaigns.

• Acquisition date: July 16, 2018

• Price: $800M

In 2018, Salesforce acquired Datorama, adding a marketing intelligence platform to its services. This platform helps customers quickly analyze marketing data and gain valuable insights. With Datorama’s AI technology, Salesforce also enhanced its Marketing Cloud.

• Acquisition date: July 11, 2014

• Price: $390M

SalesforceIQ is a cloud-based CRM platform that Salesforce has acquired. This partnership makes it easier to manage customer relationships, enhances the CRM market, and facilitates the handling of prospects.

• Acquisition date: Dec 8, 2010

• Price: $212M

Salesforce's merger with Heroku is one of its longest. This partnership started in 2010 and helped Salesforce establish a strong presence in the platform-as-a-service (PaaS) market.

Heroku enables users to deploy and manage their applications quickly. Adding Heroku to the Salesforce system also supports more developers, including those who use Java and Ruby.

• Acquisition date: May 2, 2011

• Price: $276M

In 2011, Salesforce bought Radian6 to improve its customer engagement on social media. Radian6 is a company that monitors social media. This acquisition provides Salesforce with tools to track conversations across various platforms. As a result, Salesforce can better understand and connect with customers on social media.

• Acquisition date: Feb 5, 2019

• Price: $2M

SendGrid is a cloud-based email delivery platform that Salesforce acquired in 2019. This merger enables customers to send and manage their email communications with ease. It significantly enhances Salesforce’s email delivery capabilities and provides customers with a comprehensive set of tools to manage their emails effectively.

• Acquisition date: May 30, 2019

• Price: $225M

In 2019, Salesforce acquired MapAnything, which enhanced its CRM with geospatial features.

This merger enhanced Salesforce’s location-based services and improved their sales processes. The benefits of this partnership include:

• Enhanced Location Intelligence: Salesforce Maps enables users to visualize and manage sales territories using geographic data from Salesforce CRM. This tool supports informed decisions based on location and aids in planning territories.

• Improved Sales Efficiency: Sales representatives can view sales data, including revenue and activity metrics, on a map within their designated territories. They can also create efficient routes to visit customers and prospects, which helps them work more productively.

• Seamless Integration with Salesforce CRM: Salesforce Maps works well with Salesforce CRM. It lets users access and update data from any device.

• Acquisition date: Dec 01, 2020

• Price: $570M

Acumen Solutions joined Salesforce in 2021 as part of its acquisition and is now a consulting partner alongside others, such as ATKA and Kerensen Consulting. It helps Salesforce expand its reach and provide better service to customers. Acumen brings strong knowledge of Salesforce in various fields, including public services and manufacturing, which helps businesses improve their digital operations.

• Acquisition date: Feb 19, 2016

• Price: Undisclosed

PredictionIO is a machine learning server that was acquired by Salesforce in 2016. It is built using Apache Spark, HBase, and Spray and is open-source.

With this acquisition, Salesforce improved its artificial intelligence and predictive analytics for its customers. PredictionIO’s technology has been integrated into Salesforce’s Einstein AI platform. It enables users to create and utilize predictive models for various purposes, including scoring leads, predicting customer churn, and developing recommendation systems.

• Acquisition date: May 15, 2019

• Price: $45M

In 2019, Salesforce acquired Bonobo AI, a company specializing in conversational AI technology. Bonobo AI analyzes sales conversations and provides insights to help improve sales performance.

Salesforce included Bonobo AI’s technology in its Sales Cloud. This enables sales teams to leverage AI-driven insights to enhance customer interactions and achieve more effective sales results.

• Acquisition date: Feb 1, 2024

• Price: Undisclosed

Salesforce recently acquired Spiff, a company that provides software for managing incentive compensation.

The Spiff software streamlines incentive compensation management (ICM) by providing a user-friendly, spreadsheet-like interface, along with robust automation features. Users can connect their sales data and calculate commissions in real-time. This acquisition enhances commission calculation capabilities for Salesforce customers, enabling them to boost sales performance and streamline their processes.

• Acquisition date: Aug 2, 2024

• Price: Undisclosed

Salesforce has agreed to buy PredictSpring, a company that provides cloud-based point-of-sale (PoS) software.

This acquisition is part of Salesforce’s plan to improve its Customer 360 features and grow its presence in the retail sector.

PredictSpring’s POS systems support mobile payments and assist with store operations, including managing client profiles and processing online orders. Since 2019, PredictSpring has been a partner in the Salesforce ecosystem and works with Salesforce’s Commerce Cloud and Service Cloud. Salesforce believes this acquisition will enhance personalized interactions for brands and retailers.

• Acquisition date: Sep 3, 2024

• Price: Undisclosed

Salesforce has acquired Tenyx, a small AI startup that focuses on voice agents. This move is part of Salesforce's strategy to enhance customer service through the use of AI.

Last year, Salesforce also acquired Airkit.ai, a company that specializes in solving customer problems with chatbots. Both Tenyx and Airkit.ai are expected to play a significant role in Salesforce’s new Agentforce platform. This platform aims to make customer support faster and more efficient by using smarter, more human-like AI.

• Acquisition date: Sep 5, 2024

• Price: $1.9B

Salesforce has acquired Own Company, a New Jersey-based company specializing in data management and protection. This is Salesforce’s biggest deal since it bought Slack in 2021. Own, previously known as OwnBackup, provides solutions for backing up and recovering data in emergencies. Their services help companies protect their data on Salesforce, AWS, and Microsoft apps. This acquisition enhances Salesforce’s ability to offer secure data protection for its customers.

• Acquisition date: Sep 24, 2024

• Price: $450M

Salesforce plans to acquire Zoomin, a platform that organizes product documentation, such as user guides, into a single, easy-to-use portal. This acquisition will enhance Salesforce’s Data Cloud by helping it manage unstructured data more effectively.

With Zoomin, Salesforce aims to enhance its AI tools, such as Agentforce, improving their ability to automate customer service tasks. This will enable businesses to quickly locate the information they need, thereby speeding up responses and enhancing customer satisfaction. 

The deal is expected to close by January 2025.

Salesforce Acquisitions: What’s Next

Salesforce Informatica $8 billion acquisition

Salesforce announced that it will acquire Informatica for about $8 billion. 

This acquisition aims to enhance Salesforce’s data management and AI capabilities, supporting sectors such as healthcare, finance, and public services. Informatica provides services in data integration, governance, privacy, and Master Data Management (MDM), which will improve Salesforce’s platform and support AI technologies.

Both companies' boards have approved the deal, which is expected to close early in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2027.

Salesforce Convergence.ai acquisition

Salesforce has agreed to acquire Convergence.ai, a UK-based company that develops AI agents capable of handling complex tasks in dynamic digital environments. Convergence’s technology enables these AI agents to manage online workflows, respond to real-time changes such as pop-ups and errors, and perform multi-step tasks accurately.

This acquisition is expected to enhance Agentforce, Salesforce’s primary AI agent platform, by adding Convergence’s expertise in automated task execution and rapid decision-making. The Convergence team will lead a new AI research and development lab in London, enhancing Salesforce’s presence in AI innovation in the UK. The financial details of the deal are not publicly available; however, it is expected to close in the second quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2026, pending standard conditions.

Salesforce AI Acquisitions

Salesforce is utilizing AI acquisitions to remain competitive and leverage the latest technology. They are also improving their own AI tools, like the new Einstein Copilot.

In 2023, Salesforce made two key acquisitions. First, they acquired Airkit, an AI-based tool that helps customers directly, thereby enhancing their Commerce Cloud. Second, they acquired Spiff, a platform for managing sales commissions, to improve their Sales Cloud features.

Salesforce is poised to compete with major companies like Microsoft and Amazon by integrating 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 is crucial for its growth and market leadership. There are five main reasons for Salesforce’s acquisitions:

Salesforce Acquisitions: Pros and Cons

Salesforce’s acquisition strategy has both benefits and challenges. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros:

• It helps the company grow in new and innovative ways, expanding into new markets.

• It offers professional growth opportunities within the Salesforce ecosystem.

• It contributes to the growth of existing businesses, which benefits the economy.

Cons:

• There may be differences in corporate culture during the integration process.

• Integrating services can be a time-consuming process.

• There are financial risks involved.

Final Words

This list highlights the most significant acquisitions and mergers by Salesforce, including those of Slack, Tableau, and MuleSoft, as well as SendGrid, MapAnything, and Spiff. These deals have enabled Salesforce to enhance its services in areas such as collaboration tools, document processing, data analysis, social media management, and email delivery.

At Codleo, our team specializes in simplifying complex Salesforce processes. With over 10 years of experience in various industries and a strong record of client satisfaction, we can help you get the most from your Salesforce investment.

Get in touch to schedule a free CRM consulting call, and we’ll show you how to optimize your Salesforce usage.