Facebook has acquired Kustomer, an omnichannel Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM platform specializing in customer service. The acquisition will cost Facebook $1 billion.
The acquisition seeks to build out the services Facebook provides to businesses on its platform, and also generate fresh revenue stream for the company, which will complement advertising.
In a statement, Kustomer revealed that businesses would continue to own the data that is generated from interactions with customers, but Facebook eventually expects to host the data.
While the social platform will not automatically use Kustomer data to inform the ads that a user sees, businesses will have the option to use their data at Kustomer for their own marketing purposes, which may include separate advertising services on Facebook.
Kustomer is a startup founded to disrupt the customer services industry with a new approach to providing agents with better data and a more unified picture of users. It brings together the many social media and other channels and a long history between them and the company in question.
The startup had raised around $174 million in private funding from investors that included Coatue, Tiger Global Management, Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Cisco Investments, Canaan Partners, Boldstart Ventures and Social Leverage. It was last valued at $710 million.
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