Salesforce seals $1.9 billion cash deal to acquire cloud backup company Own

Salesforce completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Israeli cloud backup company Own on Monday, marking its largest purchase since acquiring Slack for $28 billion in 2021. The deal, originally announced in September, was finalized with a cash transfer earlier in the day.

Salesforce to slash jobs at Own after $1.9B acquisition finalized

Founded in 2015 by Ariel Berkman, Ori Yankelev, Sam Gutmann, and Eran Cohen, Own (formerly OwnBackup) specializes in secure data management and backup solutions, primarily for Salesforce applications. The company had raised nearly $500 million in funding and was last valued at $3.3 billion during its peak in 2021.

Own team.

Despite the sizable acquisition, investors from Own’s most recent funding round in August 2021 may face losses, as the valuation of this exit falls below the $3.3 billion high achieved during the funding bubble. That 2021 round, led by B Capital Group and Alkeon Capital, saw Own’s valuation jump from $1.4 billion to $3.3 billion within six months.

Own faced challenges during this period, including laying off 150 employees—about 10% of its workforce—in 2022. However, employees benefited from the company’s peak valuation, as the final funding round included a $25 million secondary stock sale, allowing staff to cash out shares.

The acquisition’s major beneficiaries include Horizon Capital (formerly known as Oryzn), which led Own's Seed and pre-Seed rounds, Israeli venture fund Vertex, alongside U.S.-based Insight Partners, BlackRock, and Tiger Global. Innovation Endeavors, an early backer of Own, also achieved a significant return.

For Salesforce, which develops enterprise information systems and holds a market valuation of $311 billion, the acquisition strengthens its focus on data security and backup solutions.

The deal was overseen by attorney Erez Mizrachi, co-founder and head of the high-tech department at FWMK, who represented Own.