Salesforce plans to snap up Vlocity for $1.33bn

27 Feb 2020

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Salesforce says customers will have access to ‘even more tools and expert guidance to digitally transform’ following the acquisition of Vlocity.

On Tuesday (25 February), San Francisco cloud-based software company Salesforce announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Vlocity.

Also based in San Francisco, Vlocity provides industry-specific cloud and mobile software to organisations working in six fields, including health, government, communications and entertainment.

Currently valued at $1bn, Vlocity is set to be snapped up for $1.33bn in an all-cash deal. Prior to this announcement, Vlocity had raised $163m in funding, with its most recent round in March 2019 closing at $60m.

Some of Vlocity’s customers include Vodafone, British Gas, Deutsche Telekom, BT, T-Mobile, Sky and Zurich.

Complementing Salesforce’s capabilities

Salesforce commented: “It is important for our customers to have products that speak the language of their industries.

“Vlocity’s feature set will continue to enhance and complement Salesforce’s industry capabilities and product knowledge, open up new industry capabilities built on the Salesforce platform, and provide customers with even more tools and expert guidance to digitally transform.”

Meanwhile, Vlocity co-founder and CEO David Schmaier said that he was “thrilled” about the deal, which he says will “magnify” the voice of the customer.

“Upon the close of the transaction, Vlocity, this wonderful company that we, as a team, have created, built and grown into a transformational solution for six of the most important industries in the enterprise, will become part of Salesforce,” Schmaier said.

“Our deep expertise in vertical industries enables organisations to digitally transform while delivering seamless, industry-specific processes and data models across any channel, helping to increase sales, service and marketing agility, operational efficiency, digital adoption and simplicity.”

A win for Salesforce?

Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst at Constellation Research, told TechCrunch: “It’s a great deal. Vlocity gives them the industries platform they need. More importantly, it keeps Google from buying them and [could generate] $10bn in additional industries revenue growth over the next four years.”

Wang said that the purchase of the company for $1.3bn may seem as though Salesforce managed to secure a bargain, but it is because “Vlocity on its own doesn’t have as big a future without Salesforce”.

The deal is expected to close in Q2 of Salesforce’s 2021 fiscal year. The news comes as Salesforce announced that its co-CEO Keith Block is stepping down, leaving Marc Benioff as the company’s sole chief exec.

Kelly Earley was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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