Salesforce is buying customer engagement platform Braze in a US$5.66 billion (approximately A$8.08 billion) deal in a move it says will bring real-time personalisation and AI-powered marketing capabilities closer to its customer relationship management platform.
Braze, which helps marketers build customer relationships by responding to consumer behaviour in real time, coordinating personalised experiences across mobile apps, websites, email, SMS and WhatsApp, has been around since 2011 (originally Appboy) and was founded by Bill Magnuson and Jon Hyman.
The platform serves approximately 2,770 customers, including the likes of Canva, Dairy Queen, Equinox, Instacart, Urban Outfitters and Venmo.
Just last month, Salesforce announced it would acquire Listen Labs, an AI-powered customer research and human simulation platform.
The acquisition of Braze however, comes as a major push by Salesforce to strengthen its AI-driven marketing capabilities, combining Braze’s real-time customer engagement technology with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, its customer data platform and its Agentforce AI agent offering.
For marketers, the deal is designed to make it easier to turn live customer signals into relevant, personalised interactions across multiple channels, while connecting marketing activity with the broader customer relationship across sales, commerce and service.
In a Salesforce blog post, its president of applications and marketing Patrick Stokes said the combination would help businesses respond to customers at the right moment.
“Most of that wow comes from knowing your customer, and responding at just the right moment,” Stokes said. “Braze was built to turn live customer behaviour into personalised engagement at scale. Bringing that capability together with Salesforce Marketing Cloud, CRM, and Data 360 will deliver that wow moment in every customer interaction.”
Braze’s cloud-native architecture is designed for high-volume, real-time business-to-consumer (B2C) engagement. It continuously updates customer profiles and adapts customer journeys based on behaviour, supporting trillions of messages and journey actions each year.
Its BrazeAI offering also uses AI-powered optimisation to help marketers determine which content, offers and channels to use, as well as when to reach customers.
Salesforce said the acquisition would strengthen Marketing Cloud’s ability to personalise interactions across channels, using a deeper view of each customer to optimise experiences in real time and reach hundreds of millions of people.
The companies said the combined technology would help marketers act on live customer behaviour, connect mobile and app experiences with other channels, and make personalisation more intelligent through AI-powered decision-making.
The move comes as Salesforce positions AI agents as a growing part of marketing technology, arguing that marketers increasingly need systems capable of understanding customers, making decisions and acting in real time.
Braze CEO and co-founder Bill Magnuson said the company’s technology was built around the belief that marketers and their creativity remain a competitive advantage for brands.
“BrazeAI is helping marketers get their best ideas live faster,” Magnuson said. “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.”
Salesforce said Braze’s real-time engagement and AI decisioning capabilities are expected to complement four layers of its architecture: Data 360, Customer 360, Agentforce and SIForce.
The transaction is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2028 following approval from Braze shareholders and regulatory approvals.
