Salesforce is set to acquire AI marketing company Braze in a deal valued at approximately $5.66B. This forms part of its wider acquisition spree this year, dedicated to bringing in the industry’s strongest AI tools and offerings to boost its own software.
The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2028, subject to required approvals.
What Is Braze?
Braze is an AI marketing and personalization company dedicated to “amplifying” companies of any size, in any industry, according to its website. The company has around 2,770 customers, including Canva, HBO Max, KFC, and Venmo.
It allows brands to manage their customer data and send coordinated messages across channels like email, mobile app, web, SMS, and WhatsApp from one place. Alongside that, brands can use BrazeAI to instruct AI agents to build on-brand content and campaigns from plain-language descriptions, and decide the best offer, channel, and timing for each person, running tests automatically instead of relying on manual A/B testing.
Braze’s real-time engagement and AI decisioning capabilities are expected to “complement all four layers of Salesforce’s architecture” – Data 360, Customer 360, Agentforce, and SIForce.
It appears that Salesforce is also eager to use Braze’s AI marketing capabilities to strengthen its own marketing suite – something to watch out for as Marketing Cloud revenue growth continues to slide. Braze is expected to particularly strengthen Marketing Cloud’s cross-channel personalization, Salesforce claims.
“Every interaction is an opportunity to wow your customers,” said Patrick Stokes, President, Applications and Marketing, Salesforce. “Most of that wow comes from knowing your customer, and responding at just the right moment.
“Braze was built to turn live customer behavior into personalized engagement at scale. Bringing that capability together with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, CRM, and Data 360 will deliver that wow moment in every customer interaction.”
More AI Acquisitions
This acquisition adds to the growing list of AI-centered acquisitions Salesforce has announced and completed over the last year, with the goal of improving its own AI SaaS offerings by bolting successful, specialized technology on top.
Braze has historically been one of Salesforce’s largest B2C marketing automation competitors, making this deal especially interesting.
Braze marks Salesforce’s eighth acquisition this year. Under the terms of the agreement, holders of Braze Class A common stock will receive $47.50 in cash per share. Salesforce says that there is no anticipated change to Salesforce’s FY27 guidance, and that the company has not guided FY28, nor is there an update to long-term targets at this time.
Final Thoughts
The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2028, subject to customary closing conditions.
Salesforce would pay a $300M termination fee, while Braze would pay $191.4M if it abandons the deal.
