Cisco, agreed to acquire Accompany, a start-up developing an AI-driven relationship intelligence platform, for $270 million in cash.
Accompany, which is based in Los Altos, California, offers business insights for finding new prospects, navigating the selling process, and strengthening relationships. Accompany Founder and CEO Amy Chang will join Cisco as senior vice president in charge of the Collaboration Technology Group. Chang, who has served as a member of Cisco’s Board of Directors since October 2016, has in conjunction with the transaction resigned from the Cisco Board of Directors.
Cisco said the acquisition will enable it to take collaboration to the next level with even more intelligence. Accompany’s AI technology and talent will help Cisco accelerate priority areas across its collaboration portfolio, such as providing user and company profile data in Webex meetings. Together, Cisco and Accompany will continue to power the future of work in a smarter way to enhance customer experiences.
“Amy has proven to be an effective and innovative leader through her years as an entrepreneur, an engineer, and CEO, and I couldn’t be more pleased to have her and the Accompany team join Cisco,” said Chuck Robbins, Cisco chairman and CEO. “Together, we have a tremendous opportunity to further enhance AI and machine learning capabilities in our collaboration portfolio and continue to create amazing collaboration experiences for customers.”
“I am thrilled with the opportunity to join Cisco and the industry’s leading collaboration team,” said Amy Chang, Accompany founder and CEO. “Enterprise applications are rapidly becoming more intelligent and augmented with data and pertinent information in real-time. By combining Accompany’s relationship intelligence capability with Cisco’s award-winning collaboration product portfolio, customers will be able to more intelligently collaborate with employees, customers and partners.”
In addition, Cisco announced that Rowan Trollope, current senior vice president and general manager of the Collaboration Technology Group, is leaving Cisco to become CEO at another company effective May 3.
In December 2016, Accompany raised $20 million in funding in a round led by Ignition Partners and participation from CRV. This brought total funding to $40 million.
