Salesforce Acquires Data Management Startup, Own
Cloud-based software company Salesforce has acquired data management and protection solutions firm, Own. TechCrunch reported that Salesforce paid $1.9 billion in cash to acquire Own.
The Salesforce-Own acquisition is the biggest deal for the software company since it bought Slack in 2021 for $27.7 billion. Earlier this year, Salesforce wanted to acquire data management software company, Informatica but dropped the idea.
End-to-End Solutions
According to the software company, Salesforce’s latest acquisition demonstrates its commitment to providing its customers with secure end-to-end solutions that protect customer data.
“Data security has never been more critical, and Own’s proven expertise and products will enhance our ability to offer robust data protection and management solutions to our customers,” Steve Fisher, Salesforce GM said.
Founded in 2015, Own offers a range of enterprise data backup services that include disaster recovery and automated backup.
The Cybersecurity Threat
Businesses are increasingly facing ransomware threats. The risk of data center disasters is also rife and could potentially result in significant loss of data. Own offers a portfolio of seeding, data archiving, security, and analytics capabilities. Currently, the company serves about 7,000 customers through hundreds of employees.
“We’re excited to join forces with Salesforce, a company that shares our commitment to data resilience and security. Together with Salesforce, we’ll deliver even greater value for our customers by driving innovation, securing data, and ensuring compliance in the world’s most complex and highly regulated industries,” Own CEO, Sam Gutmann said.
High Valuation
Own was founded by Daniel Gershuni, Ariel Berkman, and Eran Cohen. The three founders raised $507.3 million from various investors including Salesforce Ventures, BlackRock, Tiger Glona, Vervex Ventures, and Insight Partners. In a 2021 funding round, Own was valued at $3.35 billion.
This high valuation was justified by its massive data backup and recovery segment. In 2023, KBV Research placed the value of the global data backup and recovery sector at $12.9 billion. The sector has experienced a 10.9% compound yearly growth from 2017. Salesforce plans to close the transaction in quarter four of 2025 subject to approval by regulatory authorities.
Initially, Own used SaaS open APIs from vendors, including those belonging to Salesforce backup and extract data from applications. Besides Salesforce applications, Own supported other SaaS apps hosted on Microsoft and AWS.
Moving forward, Own will complement Saleforce’s data management tooling. With Own’s technical backing, Salesforce will offer its customers a range of products with data loss prevention and protection capabilities.
