Marketing technology company Marketo has signed an agreement to be acquired by software investment company Vista for a cool $US1.79 billion ($AUS2.5 billion).

Marketo CEO Phil Fernandez (pictured above) said the acquisition was in the best interests of the company and its shareholders.

“The acquisition will allow Marketo to continue to focus on customer success and to remain the independent category leader, continuing to set the agenda for product innovation and thought leadership for the entire digital marketing industry,” he said in a statement.

“It will also enable us to successfully deliver on the bold vision we recently set forth – to give tomorrow’s marketers and the C-suite an ultra-high-scale enterprise platform for customer engagement.”

Co-founder and president of Vista, Brian Sheth, added: “Marketo is the clear leader in the marketing automation space and has consistently delivered innovative mission critical products to its more than 4,600 customers. Given our proven track record and focus on investing in high-growth SaaS platforms, we are thrilled to partner with Phil and the broader Marketo team to help the company accelerate innovation, growth, and excellence.”

The Marketo headquarters will remain in San Mateo, with the entire transaction expected to be completed by third quarter of this year.

Vista appears to have been on an acquisition spree in the past year, according to US publication Forbes.

The software company has snaffled event management company Cvent and software maker Solera under its belt in recent months, with Bloomberg data suggesting Marketo and Cvent are the largest private software deals in the States.

Fernandez has been rather vocal about the future of marketing. When he was in Sydney in March this year he firmly stated mass marketing no longer works, and that campaign marketing was on the out.

“Everyone knows people are tuning out advertising,” he said at the time. “If you’re buying advertising and you’re not worried people are tuning it out, then you should probably stop buying the advertising.”

It’s a widely adopted stance given many brands are upping their personalisation and customer experience.

Time will tell how this acquisition goes for Marketo.

Lead image via Fernandez’s Twitter.