In the Salesforce ecosystem, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have always drawn attention thanks to the combination of a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit and strong investment interest from major corporations. With a connected community and impressive growth, Salesforce has built one of the most successful tech ecosystems over the past 25 years. Discover what makes M&A in the world of Salesforce so unique!

Investment Cycles

Like other industries, the tech ecosystem goes through certain investment cycles. These cycles impact both the M&A market and venture capital (VC) activity, typically involving the following stages:

• Early-Stage: Focuses on investments from individuals, angel investors, or seed funds for newly established startups.
  
• Growth-Stage: As companies prove pro
• Mature-Stage: Stable companies usu
• duct-market fit, they begin to attract additional funding to scale operations.ally catch the eye of large investment firms, especially those generating around $5 million in revenue.
• Exit-Stage: After years of investment, stakeholders aim to realize returns through M&A deals or IPOs.
  

In the Salesforce ecosystem, it seems that multiple investment cycles have been unfolding continuously over the years.

Notable Deals

In recent years, several high-profile deals have occurred — for example, the $715 million merger between Apttus and Conga, or the $1 billion acquisition of Certinia (formerly FinancialForce). These deals were often backed by private equity funds, indicating a mature-stage cycle. Interestingly, these companies were among the earliest participants in the Salesforce AppExchange program.

Moreover, the 2020–2022 period saw a surge of investment activity in the Salesforce ecosystem, largely spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic. During this time, over $1 billion was poured into Salesforce-affiliated ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) — a clear indicator of a strong growth stage.

More recently, new companies continue to emerge in fields like AI and DevOps — such as Swantide, Synch, and Spover — showing ongoing innovation within the ecosystem.

What About Solution Integrators?

The landscape for Solution Integrators (SIs) has also undergone significant changes.

Global System Integrators like Accenture, Deloitte, IBM, Wipro, and PWC are aggressively expanding their presence in the Salesforce space, often through the acquisition of mid-sized consulting firms to broaden their services.

This shift has created new opportunities for small and mid-sized consultancies like Future Form and Mint Consulting in the UK — often founded by former employees of acquired companies.

However, the current trend among investors is to focus on companies with revenue between $10–15 million. Smaller firms under $5 million are now finding it harder to attract buyers.

Another notable shift is the increasing emphasis on vertical expertise and multi-cloud project experience. This has made the market more competitive, requiring SIs to offer specialized capabilities.

That said, there are still positive signals: many firms that were turned down for investment in 2023 have bounced back in 2024. Examples include Sercante and Cloud Orca — both of which continued to grow and were acquired this year.

Conclusion

Some may assume that the Salesforce ecosystem has matured and that valuations are on the decline. However, in reality, valuations have remained steady since around 2017.

The biggest shift lies in the acquisition criteria: instead of solely focusing on revenue growth, factors such as profitability and vertical specialization are gaining importance.

Despite these changes, the Salesforce ecosystem remains vibrant and continues to be one of the most attractive arenas for growth-oriented investments.

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