MetaMind Acquired by Cloud Giant, Salesforce

Header image source: recode.net

This is a serious tech stuff but will interest you as you understand what this deal is about, plus how a tech company will use it to get better value, automate digital marketing and customer supports.

Salesforce plu meta
Source: DeepMind

Salesforce, an enterprise cloud CRM, sales and marketing software company has just bought MetaMind. With a revenue of about $6 billion in full year 2015, very similar to Google’s strategy, Salesforce was into sales and CRM software until it bought many companies to become what it is today. According to Crunchbase, Salesforce has bought over 37 companies spending a whopping $5 billion in cash. As a cloud company like SAP, Salesforce uses a public cloud to provide software for companies big and small without installations on host devices, either mobile, tablet or PC via browsers.

Richard Socher
Richard Socher, Founder & CEO MetaMind. Source: Metamind

MetaMind, its latest fish, is a deep learning company founded in 2014 by Richard Socher, a PhD graduate at Stanford. Deep learning is basically “an aspect of machine learning based on a set of algorithms that attempt to model high-level abstractions in data by using multiple processing layers, with complex structures or otherwise, composed of multiple non-linear transformations”.

Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce. Source: fastcompany.com

In summary, Deep learning technology allows sets of computer programs to predict tasks, decode language, visuals or images without being prompted. Deep learning has huge application in image, sound and shape recognition. The aim of Salesforce is to leverage this advanced algorithms developed by MetaMind’s team to increase features of its sales, CRM, marketing, human resource, accounting, digital marketing, data analytics, business intelligence and dashboards products to make them more robust and competitive.

salesforce
Source: Salesforce

Salesforce did not disclose how much it bought MetaMind and or details of MetaMind’s autonomy and mode of operation going forward.

According to a report by informationweek.com, “Gartner indicates that Salesforce.com leads worldwide CRM software vendors with 18.4% market share in 2014, compared to No. 2 SAP, with 12.1% market share. Salesforce.com also had the highest revenue growth (28.2%) from 2013 to 2014, versus No. 2 Microsoft with 21.7% growth.

Saleforce’s move to acquire MetaMind might however increase mergers and acquisitions, M&As in the cloud software business.

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