Salesforce buys Clicksoftware for $1.35 Billion

Salesforce.com Inc. has acquired Israeli workforce management software company Clicksoftware Technologies Ltd. for $1.35 billion, the company announced Wednesday. In January, Calcalist reported that the two companies were negotiating a deal according to a $1.5 billion valuation, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Founded in 1979 by Israeli entrepreneur Moshe BenBassat, Burlington, Massachusetts-headquartered Clicksoftware develops and sells enterprise software, offering task scheduling, resource management, and customer service tools. In 2014, Clicksoftware was acquired by San Francisco-based private equity firm Francisco Partners Management L.P. in a deal valued at around $438 million.

In 2016, Salesforce selected Clicksoftware as a primary software provider. Under that agreement, Clicksoftware became a workforce management arm of Salesforce.

Salesforce’s Israeli operation currently has around 500 employees, boosted by the 400 people it gained following its 2018 acquisition of Israel-based marketing analytics company Datorama Ltd., which was valued at over $800 million. In May, Salesforce acquired Tel Aviv-based conversational AI startup Bonobo, incorporated as Bonobot Technologies Ltd., in a deal estimated at $50 million. Two Hundred out of Clicksoftware’s 700 employees are based in Israel. Following the acquisition, they are expected to join Salesforce’s local research and development center.

Elad Donsky, Salesforce’s vice president of engineering and head of Israel research and development, told Calcalist Tuesday that following the acquisition, Salesforce will grow its Israeli R&D center to over 600 employees. “We are planning to increase our local activity significantly in coming years,” he said.