Salesforce to acquire Braze for $5.7 billion in major AI marketing push

Salesforce is buying AI-powered customer engagement platform Braze for $5.66 billion, adding another multibillion-dollar acquisition to its growing AI portfolio as the enterprise software giant races to reshape its business around artificial intelligence. The deal, announced Tuesday, sent Braze shares soaring more than 50%, signaling investor enthusiasm for the hefty premium Salesforce is paying to strengthen its marketing business.

Under the agreement, Braze Class A shareholders will receive $47.50 in cash per share, representing a roughly 58% premium over Monday’s closing price of $30.04. Salesforce shares slipped about 1% in early trading, suggesting investors were less enthusiastic about the price tag.

The acquisition is expected to close during Salesforce’s fiscal 2028, pending approval from Braze shareholders and regulators. Salesforce said the transaction would not affect its fiscal 2027 financial outlook.

For Salesforce, the deal is about more than adding another software company to its portfolio. It is a bet that the future of customer relationship management will depend increasingly on AI systems that can interpret customer behavior, predict what people want, and deliver personalized messages across multiple digital channels.

Braze, founded in 2011 as Appboy, built its business around helping companies communicate with customers through mobile apps, email, websites, SMS, and other channels. Its platform processes customer activity in real time, allowing marketers to adjust campaigns based on how users interact with their products.

The New York-based company, which went public on Nasdaq in 2021, serves major brands including Canva, Venmo, and Urban Outfitters. Its AI tools help businesses personalize marketing content, select communication channels, and determine when messages should reach customers.

“Salesforce shares our commitment to marketers, and we’ll continue building as Braze and investing in the Braze community of customers and partners who built this company with us,” Bill Magnuson, CEO of Braze, said in a statement. “Salesforce’s platform will help us innovate faster and together we’ll help marketers around the world build deeper, more lasting relationships with their customers.”

Salesforce’s acquisition spree reveals a bigger AI strategy

The Braze deal follows a series of acquisitions aimed at giving Salesforce a stronger position in enterprise AI.

Just months earlier, Salesforce announced a $3.6 billion deal to acquire AI customer service platform Fin, seeking to strengthen its ability to automate customer interactions. The company previously struck an approximately $8 billion deal for data management company Informatica, another major piece of its effort to connect enterprise data with AI applications.

Salesforce has been buying companies at a pace that reflects growing pressure on established software vendors. AI startups are introducing tools that can perform tasks once handled through traditional enterprise software, raising questions about how companies such as Salesforce will defend their existing businesses.

The company is responding by building and acquiring technology that can turn its vast stores of customer data into automated business actions.

In August, Salesforce expanded its partnership with Anthropic, introducing a plugin called Claudeforce that uses Anthropic’s AI models to help sales teams compose emails, update customer records, and perform routine tasks.

Braze brings a different piece of that strategy. Salesforce already has extensive customer relationship management capabilities, but Braze specializes in real-time consumer engagement, an area where speed, personalization, and customer behavior data increasingly determine whether marketing campaigns succeed.

The acquisition could help Salesforce connect its customer databases with Braze’s marketing technology, giving businesses a more direct way to turn customer insights into personalized interactions.

Still, the purchase comes at a substantial premium, and Salesforce faces the familiar challenge of integrating another major acquisition into its sprawling software portfolio. The company has previously faced questions about the costs and performance of large deals, including Slack and Tableau.

The bigger question is whether Salesforce can turn its aggressive AI spending into sustainable growth.

For Braze, the deal would mark another major exit for a venture-backed technology company that grew into a publicly traded software business. For Salesforce, it represents another expensive wager that AI will fundamentally change how businesses attract, serve, and retain customers.

Salesforce acquires Braze for $5.7 billion