(Reuters) – Enterprise cloud company Salesforce.com Inc said on Tuesday it had agreed to acquire Tenix Inc, a developer of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered voice agents, to advance its AI-powered solutions.
The acquisition, for undisclosed amounts, is expected to close in the third quarter and will see Tenyx co-founders CEO Itamar Arel and CTO Adam Earle, along with their teams, join Salesforce.
Tenyx, a California-based startup founded in 2022, serves clients across a variety of industries, including e-commerce, healthcare, hospitality and travel, according to the company’s website.
Under pressure from activist investors, Salesforce last year announced plans to disband its mergers and acquisitions committee, double down on share buybacks and move away from acquiring companies.
The San Francisco, California-based company is now looking at acquisitions to reaccelerate its revenue growth.
The move is reminiscent of a similar deal struck between tech giants Microsoft and Amazon earlier this year, and highlights the growing competition for AI tools and talent.
Microsoft paid $650 million in March to acquire talent from AI startup Inflection, while Amazon hired several co-founders and employees from Adept, another AI startup, in June.
Salesforce.com Inc. last week beat Wall Street expectations for second-quarter revenue and profit, benefiting from increased spending on its enterprise cloud products.
(Reporting by Jubee Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
