US-based sales software producer Kustomer agreed yesterday to an acquisition by social media group Facebook that will allow networking technology provider Cisco to exit.
The deal will be sized at just over $1bn, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal, double the reported $500m valuation at which the company last raised funding, in a $60m series E round in December 2019.
Founded in 2015, Kustomer has created a customer relationship management platform designed to manage large amounts of activity through a range of channels, using artificial intelligence technology to eliminate simple, repetitive tasks.
Facebook said it plans to provide the company with the funding and support it needs to grow. The acquisition will support recent upgrades it has made to its WhatsApp and Messenger applications to enable enterprise customers to make better use of them.
Hedge fund manager Coatue Management led Kustomer’s series E round, which took its total funding to $174m, participating alongside Tiger Global Management and Battery Ventures – the investors that had provided $40m in series D funding for the company in May 2019.
Kustomer had raised $35m four months earlier, in a series C round led by Battery Ventures that also featured Cisco’s corporate venturing unit, Cisco Investments, as well as Canaan Partners, Boldstart Ventures and Social Leverage.
Cisco Investments had already taken part in the company’s $26m series B round in mid-2018. Redpoint Ventures led that round, which included existing backers Canaan Partners, Social Leverage and Boldstart Ventures.
