Key Takeaways
- Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire customer engagement platform Braze for $5.66 billion in enterprise value, with the deal expected to close in fiscal year 2028.
- Braze’s real-time engagement and AI decisioning capabilities are expected to strengthen cross-channel personalization in Salesforce Marketing Cloud for high-volume B2C brands.
Salesforce announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Braze a leading customer engagement platform, for approximately $5.66 billion in enterprise value.
With AI raising the bar for marketers, who now need agentic solutions that can understand customers, make decisions, and act in real time, Salesforce is moving to lead that shift, through both organic innovation and acquisitions that meet the standards of their M&A framework: advancing customer success, fitting within their strategy, accelerating innovation, and creating long-term value, according to company officials.
Following the close of the transaction, 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. Within Customer 360, Braze is expected to strengthen Marketing Cloud’s cross-channel personalization, helping brands turn a deeper view of each customer into richer experiences, optimized in real time at the scale needed to reach hundreds of millions of people.
When Will Salesforce’s Acquisition of Braze Close?
The transaction announced Oct. 20 is expected to close in Salesforce’s fiscal year 2028, subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Braze’s shareholders and receipt of required regulatory approvals.
“Every interaction is an opportunity to wow your customers,” said Patrick Stokes, President, Applications and Marketing, Salesforce, in a statement. “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.”
What Does Braze Add to Salesforce Marketing Cloud?
Braze helps marketers build deeper customer relationships by responding to customer behavior in real time, coordinating personalized experiences across mobile apps, websites, email, SMS, WhatsApp, and more. Its cloud-native, event-streaming architecture is optimized for high-volume, real-time B2C engagement, continuously updating customer profiles and adapting customer journeys while powering trillions of messages and journey actions each year.
BrazeAI extends Salesforce’s capabilities with AI-powered optimization across content, offers, channels, and timing, helping marketers make each interaction more relevant. These capabilities would advance Salesforce’s vision for a more complete Customer 360 and expand how brands connect with customers across high-volume B2C experiences. Salesforce and Braze would help businesses:
- Act on customer behavior in real time. Braze’s event-streaming architecture turns live customer signals and data from cloud data warehouses and other platforms into personalized messages and coordinated journeys, helping marketers adapt engagement as customers browse, buy, and use products.
- Deliver richer experiences across channels. Braze’s deep mobile and app capabilities, including in-app messages, personalized content feeds, and live updates, work alongside email, web, and messaging channels to create more connected customer experiences.
- Make personalization more intelligent. Braze’s AI decisioning helps marketers optimize content, offers, channels, and timing. Bringing these capabilities together with Salesforce’s customer context and Agentforce would help businesses make engagement more relevant and connect marketing with the broader customer relationship across commerce, sales, and service.
Who Are Braze’s Customers and Leaders?
Braze serves approximately 2,770 customers, including Canva, Dairy Queen, Equinox, Instacart, Urban Outfitters, and Venmo. Led by co-founders Bill Magnuson and Jon Hyman, Braze leadership brings deep expertise in mobile experiences, data engineering, and customer engagement to Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
“Braze was built on the conviction that marketers and their creativity are a brand’s ultimate competitive advantage,” said Magnuson. “This past year we shipped at the fastest pace in our history, and BrazeAI is helping marketers get their best ideas live faster.
“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’s platform will help us innovate faster and together we’ll help marketers around the world build deeper, more lasting relationships with their customers.”
