Highlights:

  • Facebook, on November 30, 2020, announced the purchase of Kustomer, a CRM start-up
  • With this acquisition, Facebook gears up to offer small businesses that use its service to advertise and sell additional features to close sales deals via the social network’s services

Facebook, the tech giant, on November 30, 2020, broke the news of the acquisition of Kustomer, a tech start-up specializing in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platforms and chatbots.

The social media company closed the deal at an amount little more than USD 1 billion, as per a person related to the matter.

The CRM tools support clients to manage their communications with customers through phone, text, email, or direct messages in certain apps like WhatsApp or Messenger.

More about the acquisition

The purchase of a business-software enterprise such as Kustomer is not usual for Facebook. In the past, the social media giant primarily purchased consumer-centric businesses such as Giphy (a Gif catalog company) in May 2020 and PlayGiga (a Spanish cloud video gaming enterprise) in December 2019.

The purpose of these acquisitions basically serves as a basis for developing features for Facebook users. By adding Kustomer to its umbrella, Facebook will offer small businesses that use its service to sell and advertise goods with additional features to close sales using Facebook’s network services.

This move apparently should lead enterprises to spend more on Facebook ads. As paid ads are the primary key, which helps make nearly 99% of its revenue from its advertising services.

Based out of New York, Kustomer was established in 2015. On the economic front, the company has raised around USD 173.5 million, as per Crunchbase. JPMorgan has served as the sole advisor to Kustomer in the deal.

On the business front, Kustomer is driving satisfaction and loyalty from a range of most iconic names in the world of business, including Glossier, ThirdLove, Sweetgreen, UNTUCKit, and a few more.