Facebook Acquires Kustomer for $1 Bln

Facebook announced on Monday it would buy Kustomer, a startup that specializes in customer-service platforms and chatbots. The deal was valued at more than $1 billion. Meanwhile, Facebook made the deal to bolster efforts to monetize its messaging business, which is expanding to include customer-service products that help companies interact with people via chat apps, like WhatsApp and Messenger.

On other hand, Kustomer reported it can give customer service teams better data and a more unified view of the people they’re interacting with. So with this acquisition, Facebook can improve its offerings for businesses that have a presence on the social network.

Moreover, Kustomer is an omnichannel CRM platform that brings customer conversations from various channels together into a single-screen view. It helps businesses automate repetitive tasks so their agents can maximize the time and quality of interactions with customers.

Facebook plans to support Kustomer’s operations by providing the resources it needs to scale its business, improve and innovate its product offering, and delight its customers. That way, more people will benefit from customer service that is faster, richer and available whenever and however they need it, whether it’s phone, email, web chat or messaging.

Kustomer was founded in 2015 by Brad Birnbaum and Jeremy Suriel. Investors of the startup include companies like Coatue, Tiger Global Management, Battery Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Cisco Investments, Canaan Partners, Boldstart Ventures, and Social Leverage, according to News reportes.