May 7, 2024

Fresh off the press

Hi there, 

Our report on public companies in AI is out now. 

We mined earnings calls, analyzed business relationships, and dug into investments and acquisitions to survey the AI activities of some of the world’s largest companies in financial services, tech, pharma, automotive, and more. 

Get all the data mining analysis and results here. 

Below, we dive specifically into what Salesforce is doing in AI. 

All about AI

CEO Marc Benioff called AI “the single most important moment in the history of the technology industry” in the company’s most recent earnings call.

Salesforce is reshaping its business around the tech, as highlighted by CB Insights earnings insights.

In its next AI evolution, Salesforce is looking to embed generative AI across its platform.

The company has been intensely pushing its Einstein AI layer, first introduced in 2016 and now expanded with its Einstein Copilot chatbot, on recent earnings calls.

Salesforce’s Data Cloud, its customer data platform that feeds into Einstein, is part of the backbone of its AI monetization plans.

“The entire AI revolution is built on this foundation of data and it's why we're so excited about this incredible Data Cloud… It is our fastest growing product ever. It's our total focus for fiscal year 2025.” — Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, Q4 FY 2024 Earnings Call

Revenue for Data Cloud grew nearly 90% YoY to approach $400M in ARR in FY 2024.

But so far, the recent AI hype has had a limited impact on Salesforce's top-line growth. 

Outside of its Data Cloud traction, the company doesn’t expect to see a “material contribution” until “year 2 and 3” from its genAI products. 

Investment ecosystem

Meanwhile, Salesforce Ventures, a key source for Salesforce’s M&A pipeline, has doubled down on generative AI.

The venture arm expanded its genAI fund from $250M to $500M in June 2023.

Watch for additional AI acquisitions, following Salesforce’s purchase of several mid-stage startups in 2023. 

Last year, it acquired Spiff (sales commission automation) and Airkit (AI-powered customer service), both previously backed by Salesforce Ventures.

We predicted which startups could next be in its sights here. 

Looking ahead

Salesforce customers we’ve spoken with have indicated AI features are a core part of their evaluation criteria. 

For example, here's the perspective of a Fortune 500 leader we spoke with ($20M spend) on the lack of differentiation in the CRM landscape and potential for AI.

Get a breakdown of 10 other public companies’ AI strategies in this report. 

I love you. 

Anand 

@asanwal 

P.S. It’s like peanut butter and chocolate — public and private data is now all in one place on the CB Insights platform. Learn more here. 

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