Salesforce paid over $33 million to buy two tiny startups
When it really wants a company, we know that Salesforce will pay big for it.
But when it buys a tiny startup, it's unclear if it's fair, generous, or a bargain hunter.
A recent SEC filing indicates that Salesforce doesn't go for the jugular and pays reasonably well in those cases, too.
The company made three small acquisitions this year and in a form filed with the SEC on Monday, it revealed the deal size of one: In July 31, 2015, it acquired Paris company Kerensen Consulting for $24.2 million. Salesforce recently expanded big time into Paris and bought Kerensen to give it a local foothold in the market.
Salesforce also said it acquired two other companies in 2015 and spent a total of $33.1 million.
Those companies were both tiny startups: Toopher, bought in April and Tempo AI bought in May.
Obviously, we don't know exactly how much of the $33 million went to each company, its founders and investors, but we can deduce a little.
We know that Toopher's seven employees were granted a total of 37,408 shares, worth about $2.5 million in April, according to an earlier SEC form filed by Salesforce. Toopher was a four-year old enterprise security startup that raised about $3 million in VC funds.
Tempo AI was an iOS calendar app and an acqu-hire. It raised $12.5 million in venture capital and had about a dozen employees, according to a LinkedIn search. Salesforce shut down the app shortly after buying the company and the team was integrated into RelateIQ, another company Salesforce bought. Salesforce paid $390 million for RelateIQ in 2014, considered a premium price.
If Salesforce merely cashed out the investors at both of the startups it bought this year, it would have spent $15.5 million. It paid more than double.
So the evidence looks like this was a decent exit for these startups.