Salesforce (CRM) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cimulate, a rising player in AI-powered product discovery and agentic commerce, according to the company announcement. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal year 2027, subject to customary closing conditions.
The acquisition brings some interesting firepower to Salesforce’s Agentforce Commerce platform. Cimulate specializes in intent-aware search technology that goes way beyond basic keyword matching.
Instead of shoppers typing “blue shoes” and hoping for the best, the platform combines real and simulated shopping data to figure out what people actually want.
“The future of commerce is agentic, moving beyond simple transactions to intuitive, conversational discovery,” said Nitin Mangtani, SVP and GM of Commerce and Retail at Salesforce.
Shopping online can still feel clunky. You search for something, wade through irrelevant results, and often give up. Cimulate’s technology is designed to fix that frustration by understanding shopper intent in real time.
Once integrated with Agentforce Commerce, retailers should be able to deliver search experiences that feel more natural and responsive to how people actually browse and buy. The goal is to help shoppers discover products faster and convert more often, while freeing up merchants to focus on brand building and growth.
John Andrews, CEO and co-founder of Cimulate, put it simply: “Joining Salesforce allows us to scale our technology and put it in the hands of the world’s leading retailers.” The acquisition also brings Cimulate’s specialized team to Salesforce, adding deep expertise in contextual e-commerce search.
But here’s the thing—CRM stock, along with most software names, has been getting pounded lately. The company has lost about a quarter of its value in 2026, caught up in a broader selloff as investors worry that AI agents will replace traditional software products.
The WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund (WCLD) has plummeted roughly 22% year-to-date (YTD). Other software companies are faring even worse. HubSpot (HUBS) is down 45%, Figma (FIG) has dropped 42%, and Shopify (SHOP) has fallen 24%.
