Adobe to acquire Marketo

Adobe Systems announced that it is acquiring software maker Marketo for $4.75 Bn in a move widely seen as one of that will strengthen its position in the fiercely competitive cloud computing and marketing tech sector.

The maker of image-editing tool Photoshop said in a statement that the deal would bring together Marketo’s B2B-focused platform with the capabilities of Adobe Experience Cloud that include analytics, content, personalization and advertising.

It also comes just months after Adobe acquired e-commerce specialist Magento for $1.68bn, indicating that the company is highly focused on expanding its presence in the fast-growing cloud sector, which is currently dominated by Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.

Adobe and Marketo tools will enable businesses to use a data-driven approach to focus sales and marketing activities on the most valuable prospects and customers, deliver cross-channel experiences and acquire more customers through targeted, account-based advertising.

Adobe to acquire Magento

Adobe plans to get into the online shopping business by paying $1.68 Billion for e-commerce Company Magento commerce. Adobe is known for its Photoshop tools. But it’s quickly expanding into other businesses as it looks for new areas of growth.

Companies like Canon and designer Paul Smith use Magento’s technology to operate their online stores. Both Adobe and Magento share similar customers like Warner Music Group, Coca-Cola, and Nestlé, Adobe said. Having similar customers is significant because Adobe can better cross-sell its various tools and services.

Magento, founded in 2007, was acquired for an undisclosed amount by eBay in 2011. A few months after eBay split with digital payment processing company PayPal in 2015, eBay sold its enterprise software unit, including Magento, to investors Sterling Partners and Permira Funds for $925 million. Last year, Magento raised $250 million from Chinese investment firm Hillhouse at a reported private valuation of $700 million.

Salesforce is the 10,000-pound gorilla in this space with revenue across its various clouds reaching more than $8 billion last year. The company is on a run rate to exceed $10 billion in 2018. It has set a long-term company goal to reach $60 billion in annual revenue by 2034.

Adobe acquires Sayspring

Adobe has acquired Sayspring, a startup that helps developer’s prototype and build the voice interfaces for their Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Apps. All of Sayspring’s services are now available for free — but there is a catch. If you want to sign up for the service now, you’ll need an invite.

Founded in 2017, New-York based Sayspring has technology that makes it easy to design voice applications without coding. The popularity of voice assistants and smart speakers continues to grow. Already, about half of U.S. adults use voice assistants and voice will be a part of every digital interaction within a few years.

Adobe has been working to place voice commands in many of its cloud applications — like Photoshop and the Adobe Marketing Cloud — since the launch of its primary AI service, Sensei, more than a year ago. More than 100 features or services have been rolled out for Sensei since it was introduced in fall 2016, including the ability to track the performance of voice apps and services with Adobe Analytics.

Voicegram, which let Sayspring user’s record and share their conversations with Alexa, has been shut down. The Audio Converter, which used to be a standalone service, will be made part of the Sayspring platform.