Demandbase buys Engagio, adding heft to its ABM platform

Account-based marketing platform Demandbase has acquired Engagio, a competing ABM platform launched by former Marketo co-founder Jon Miller. The takeover will inevitably make Demandbase and even bigger leader in the ABM space.

Monetary terms of the deal were not announced, but the company said it could eventually see a $150 million boost in revenue as a result of the deal.

According to the companies, Miller will join Demandbase as chief product officer and Engagio co-founder Brian Babcock will take on the chief technology officer role.

Why we care

ABM has a lot of momentum in the space right now, especially in B2B, where the targeted nature of ABM in focusing on key personas and specific institutions is more desirable. According to a recent Salesforce report, 92% of B2B marketers have implemented ABM programs and 64% began their ABM efforts in the last five years.

For marketers, one of the most attractive elements of ABM is the alignment it relies upon between sales and marketing teams given the importance the practice places on targeting specific accounts.

However, the crux of today’s news is about how it evolves what an ABM platform does.

“Sales and marketing alignment isn’t enough,” said Demandbase CEO Gabe Rogol in the announcement. “These teams must start moving as one — with a single set of data and insights, orchestrated across the entire buying journey.”

Related: Read our buyer’s guide on B2B marketing automation

Despite platforms like Demandbase and Terminus advertised as being ABM solutions, many marketers operating ABM campaigns rely on a stack of tools instead of an end-to-end solution.

Last week, Ankit Sharma, head of account-based marketing for the customer communication and engagement platform Netcore, highlighted for us the mix of tools his team uses to execute ABM. The tools generally fell into these categories: Personalization, communication, automation and targeting (data).

But by buying Engagio, Demandbase, which already had key targeting and personalization features, adds the rest.

“The acquisition accelerates everything I wanted to create in an ABM platform. We will combine Demandbase’s strong go-to-market function and technological expertise with Engagio’s deep marketing automation and CRM expertise,” said Miller.