Salesforce inked an agreement to acquire enterprise cloud data management specialist Informatica in deal worth around $8 billion, as it seeks to up its play in the emerging agentic AI market.
Discussing the rationale for the big money move, Salesforce pointed to its ability to create a unified architecture for agentic AI using assets from the two, enabling safe deployment at scale across modern enterprises.
Informatica provides AI software able to connect, manage and unify data from multiple sources across a business, while Salesforce sells customer relationship management products to enterprises including agentic AI platform Agentforce.
Salesforce noted Informatica provides data transparency crucial for audits and regulatory compliance; greater understanding of information thanks to its rich metadata; and governance tools to ensure the information driving AI is standardised, accurate, consistent and secure.
Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, asserted the pair would “create the most complete, agent-ready data platform in the industry”.
He added combining their services and products would “enable autonomous agents to deliver smarter, safer and more scalable outcomes for every company, and significantly strengthen our position in the $150 billion-plus enterprise data market.”
The deal is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close “early” in the company’s fiscal 2027 (ending 31 January 2027).
Salesforce’s move for Informatica follows widespread media speculation on its intent to swoop for the company, with rumours of a deal emerging last week.
Previous talks between the two broke down in 2024 on what Bloomberg described as a disagreement on price.