Salesforce

Israeli HR platform developer HiBob has raised $166 million in a round led by Salesforce. The company's valuation has reached $3.5 billion, with total funding since inception exceeding $700 million.

For a year, software stocks plummeted on fears that artificial intelligence would wipe them out. Second-quarter reports from Salesforce, Workday, and CrowdStrike turned the picture around, and the IGV software index returned to positive territory for the year. Is this a real turning point, or just fluctuations?

Four software companies from different fields published their financial reports last week: Salesforce, CrowdStrike, Okta, and Elastic. All four presented excellent reports but, more importantly, proved that AI is less of a threat to the software sector and more of a potential for unprecedented growth.

Salesforce and CrowdStrike shares surged in after-hours trading following quarterly reports that beat analyst expectations. Both companies have raised their annual guidance.

June AI has raised $20 million in a pre-seed round. The startup, founded by former Salesforce employees, focuses on integrating enterprise AI solutions into existing business systems.

The customer relationship management sector is shifting toward a Pay-per-Resolution model. However, automating service via AI may create a conflict of interest between technology providers and brands.

The customer relationship management sector is shifting toward a Pay-per-Resolution model. However, aggressive AI automation risks creating conflicts of interest and eroding long-term customer loyalty.

A new Salesforce report reveals that traffic to shopping sites referred from AI users has quadrupled: "If retailers' products are not adapted for agents - they will simply disappear from the map."