Industry | Marketing automation |
---|---|
Founded |
Indianapolis, Indiana December 15, 2000 |
Founder | Peter McCormick, Scott Dorsey and Chris Baggott |
Headquarters | Indianapolis, Indiana |
Number of locations
|
14 |
Area served
|
Worldwide |
Key people
|
Scott McCorkle, CEO |
Revenue | $292.3 million (2012) |
Number of employees
|
1,800 (2013) |
Parent | Salesforce.com |
Website | exacttarget.com |
Salesforce Marketing Cloud (formerly known as ExactTarget) is a provider of digital marketing automation and analytics software and services. It was founded in 2000 under the name ExactTarget. The company filed for an IPO in 2007, but then withdrew its filing two years later and raised $145 million in funding. It acquired CoTweet, Pardot, iGoDigital and Keymail Marketing. In 2012, it raised $161.5 million in an initial public offering, before being acquired by Salesforce for $2.5 billion in 2013. ExactTarget was renamed to Salesforce Marketing Cloud in 2014 after the acquisition by Salesforce.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud was founded under the name ExactTarget in late 2000 by Scott Dorsey, Chris Baggott, and Peter McCormick with $200,000 in financing.Joanna Milliken, joined ExactTarget as the first employee in 2001. It raised $10.5 million in funding from Insight Venture Partners in 2004. The firm grew from $11.5 million in its second year of operations to $41.1 million in 2006, which was its first profitable year. In December 2007, ExactTarget filed an intent for an initial public offering with the Securities Exchange Commission, but withdrew its filing in May 2009. Instead, it announced $70 million in venture funding had been raised for international expansion, which was followed by another $75 million round later that year. An office was established in London with the acquisition of a UK-based ExactTarget reseller, Keymail Marketing, in September 2009. The company also hired 200 additional employees. In 2010, ExactTarget acquired CoTweet, a company founded in 2008 that develops and markets software for managing multiple Twitter accounts.
ExactTarget went public in March 2012 and raised $161.5 million in funding on the New York Stock Exchange. In late 2012, it acquired a marketing automation vendor, Pardot, for $96 million, and the developers of a product recommendation engine, iGoDigital, for $21 million. In 2012, its revenues grew 40 percent over the preceding year. The following June, ExactTarget was acquired by salesforce.com for $2.5 billion. A few months later, salesforce.com said it was laying off 200 staff due to overlaps after the ExactTarget acquisition. That September at the ExactTarget Connections conference, salesforce.com said it was integrating ExactTarget into a new division called Salesforce ExactTarget Marketing Cloud.
In May 2014, Scott Dorsey stepped down as CEO of ExactTarget and was replaced by Scott McCorkle. The company was renamed in October 2014 to "Salesforce Marketing Cloud", removing "ExactTarget" from its name, as part of its integration with Salesforce.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud develops marketing automation and analytics software for email, mobile, social and online marketing. It also offers consulting and implementation services. The software is sold primarily on a multi-year subscription basis. The price of the subscription is based on what features are enabled, number of users and level of customer service.