Salesforce has agreed to buy Braze, the New York customer-engagement software company, in a deal that values it at about $5.66 billion including debt, or roughly A$8.1 billion. Announced on 20 October 2026, it pays $47.50 in cash a share, about 58% above Braze's previous close, and Braze stock rose by more than half that day.
“a real-time engagement layer that its marketing business has historically lacked”
Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, on what Salesforce gets · thestar.com.my ↗
Salesforce wants Braze's real-time messaging tools for its Marketing Cloud and for Agentforce, its suite of AI agents. Braze has around 2,770 customers, among them Canva, Instacart, Venmo, Equinox and Dairy Queen. Patrick Stokes, Salesforce's applications and marketing president, said the platform complements its CRM and data products for more personalised customer interactions.
If either side walks away, Salesforce would owe a $300 million fee and Braze $191.4 million. J.P. Morgan is Salesforce's exclusive financial adviser and Qatalyst Partners advises Braze. Salesforce expects to need no debt and does not expect the deal to change its fiscal 2027 guidance.
About Braze
Braze is a New York-based customer-engagement software company whose platform lets brands message customers across apps, email, text and web. It was founded in 2011 as Appboy.
Appboy was co-founded by Bill Magnuson, Jon Hyman and Mark Ghermezian, who raised $3 million to start it. In August 2017 it took $50 million in Series D funding and later that year rebranded as Braze. It went public on 17 November 2021, when its IPO raised $520 million at a valuation of $5.9 billion.
The purchase follows a run of AI-minded acquisitions as investors worry that AI could erode demand for traditional software: $3.6 billion this year for the AI agent platform Fin, $8 billion for Informatica last year, and an agreement to buy Contentful. Its marketing software has also seen several quarters of flat or falling growth. Closing is expected in Salesforce's fiscal 2028, pending regulators and Braze shareholders.
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