Salesforce to buy Cresta, Ada and Dialpad agree to merge, and more - Sales & Marketing AI Weekly #78

In this edition, covering 30 October to 5 November:

• Salesforce agreed to acquire Cresta, whose voice agents handle complex customer service calls.
• Ada and Dialpad agreed to an all share merger valuing Ada at about C$600 million, two sources told The Globe and Mail.
• A Gartner survey of 275 customer service leaders found that only 4% got the expected return on investment from AI.

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Deals and funding

Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cresta, whose voice agents handle complex customer service calls, with closing expected in the first quarter of its fiscal year 2028. Toronto based Ada will combine with Dialpad in an all share deal valuing Ada at about C$600 million, two sources told The Globe and Mail. PartnerOne acquired 3CLogic, a voice first customer experience platform with conversational AI, automation, contact center tools and communications infrastructure. Salesforce and Cresta · Ada and Dialpad · PartnerOne and 3CLogic

India based Affle agreed to buy Israeli ad tech company Perion for $11.70 per share in cash, about $420 million, with closing expected in early 2027. Nooks secured a $500 million commitment from General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund, which takes a share of the returns its capital generates, and says it has more than 2,000 customers. Affle and Perion · Nooks

AVENIR GLOBAL bought Marker Collective from Next 15, adding the Archetype, Nectar and Outcast agencies and Delve, an AI media monitoring platform. AVENIR GLOBAL

Five9 plans to buy Level AI for $325 million in cash, with closing expected in the fourth quarter of 2026, and will add its tools to the Genius CX Platform. Israel based Priority Software acquired Fireberry, adding AI powered CRM, sales, marketing automation and customer service tools to its cloud ERP and business management portfolio. Five9 and Level AI · Priority and Fireberry

Customer service AI results

A Gartner survey of 275 customer service and support leaders found that only 4% achieved the expected return on investment from their AI initiatives. An EY India report says 23% of surveyed organisations got high or very high value from AI in customer service, and these top performers report gains above 50% in several metrics. AudioCodes reported third quarter revenue of $64.1 million, up 4.2%, and says its VoiceAI business grew 50% in the first three quarters of 2026. Gartner · EY · AudioCodes

SoundHound AI reported third quarter revenue of $62.4 million, up 48.5%, and expects sustained adjusted EBITDA profitability in the second half of 2027. SoundHound

Job cuts and closures

Nice plans to cut about 500 jobs worldwide, or 5% of its workforce, as it shifts toward AI driven customer service software. Pipedrive plans to cut 267 jobs in Estonia, 70% of its 380 staff there, and to reduce its global workforce while it develops AI based sales tools. Front is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs to make the business more sustainable, CEO Dan O'Connell said on LinkedIn. Nice · Pipedrive · Front

Israeli startup Explorium is shutting down after nearly nine years and more than $127 million raised; it had moved from data enrichment to generative AI and AI agent products. Explorium

Customer service deployments

DevRev uses OpenAI models, including GPT-6.1 Sol and GPT-6 Astra, for Computer and Operator, its tools that handle customer and employee requests with company data and reversible actions. Orange Group is deploying Algolia Agent Studio for billing and account support in more than 26 countries, with separate controls for each agent's conversations and costs. Parloa and Deloitte Canada signed an alliance and reseller agreement to bring Parloa's AI Agent Management Platform to Canadian contact centers. DevRev · Orange and Algolia · Parloa and Deloitte Canada

Hostie now takes commission free takeout orders by call and text and sends them to Toast, Olo and Square; it says it has processed more than $200,000 in orders. WellNet Healthcare is deploying EHVAhealth voice AI for inbound provider calls on eligibility, benefits and claims status, with transfers to live agents in its Five9 contact center. Zoom added more of its customer experience suite and newly authorized capabilities to Zoom for Government for US federal agencies and government organizations. Hostie · WellNet and EHVAhealth · Zoom for Government

Lorikeet launched Dreamweaver, a service in its Concierge agents that automates personalized follow ups, and says 30% more new PayJoy customers used their credit line within 14 days. Instadesk says a deployment at a Southeast Asian insurer with about 18,000 agents cut costs by 45% and raised sales conversion by 20%. Satisfi Labs received US Patent Nos. 12,743,435 and 12,737,369 for technology that controls how AI agents answer questions and prepares client data for retrieval. Lorikeet · Instadesk · Satisfi Labs

Cerillion released version 26.2 of its billing and service suite with AI agents for customer care and service configuration and predictive churn. Cerillion

Rezonate added Arena, which tests agent responses and actions before they reach customers, to its kira engagement platform. Rezonate

Insurer Guardian signed a multi year partnership with Sierra, whose AI will handle about 1 million dental benefit verification calls a year plus payments and claim status inquiries. KORE will deploy 3CLogic's voice first platform with ServiceNow Customer Service Management to consolidate its customer service systems, and plans to add voice AI agents in early 2027. Guardian and Sierra · KORE and 3CLogic

Marketing tools

Supermetrics expanded its Claude connector so marketers can create or edit campaigns on Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok, LinkedIn and Snapchat, which stay paused until approved. Adobe says CX Enterprise Coworker is now available through ChatGPT, Claude, Databricks Genie, Gemini for business and Microsoft Copilot, with Amazon Quick, IBM and Snowflake planned. Sequel made its Build, Scale and Convert agents for webinar marketing generally available; they need human approval before they send emails or update CRM records. Supermetrics · Adobe · Sequel

Rokt says onX uses Rokt mParticle Agent to build predictive audience attributes in one day, down from two weeks or more. GrowthLoop and EVERSANA expanded AI decisioning for biopharma marketing, and their tests found display ads scored 52% higher in weighted engagement than email for peer to peer program audiences. Clarivoy launched a rebuilt attribution platform for car dealers with Claire, an AI analyst for marketing questions, and an MCP Connector for ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. Rokt and onX · GrowthLoop · Clarivoy

Virse AI introduced a node based canvas for US agencies, brand teams and design studios that combines more than 50 AI models with design tools for branding and packaging work. Virse AI

Unbounce launched an AI landing page builder trained on insights from 2.5 billion conversions, with A/B testing and publishing built in. Unbounce

San Francisco based Writesonic launched Outreach Agent, which finds authors of pages that AI systems cite, drafts emails, sends them after marketer approval and tracks replies. SugarAI introduced AI tools for manufacturers and distributors that connect CRM and ERP data to flag sales risks, revenue opportunities and recommended actions. Writesonic · SugarAI

Search and data

OpenAI will support a shared robots.txt signal, defined in an IETF Internet Draft with the token __usage_ai-training, that tells multiple AI providers a site's training preferences. Reddit is testing ads in its search results with select advertisers after a decline in search referral traffic, and plans to gradually require users to log in, starting outside the US. MFour Data Research added Google Gemini to its ChatGPT data and says it now collects 2.35 million unique AI conversations every 30 days, linked to panelists' demographics and purchases. OpenAI robots.txt · Reddit search ads · MFour

OpenAI signed deals with Magnite and PubMatic so advertisers can buy unused ChatGPT ad space through their software; early volumes are small, sources say. ChatGPT ads

From 9 November, ChatGPT advertisers can set an optional cost target when using Max Bid or Max CPC bidding. ChatGPT Ads bidding

Also

Estée Lauder Companies formed a partnership with Microsoft for cloud, data and AI work and is extending Copilot to more than 14,000 office based employees. UCB will adopt Veeva Vault CRM, an AI enabled platform for commercial engagement in life sciences. Loyalty Juggernaut and On Point Loyalty launched fidivio, a financial management platform for loyalty programs with an AI assistant, already in production at Mexico based Nexxia. Estée Lauder · UCB and Veeva · fidivio

The Business Development Bank of Canada launched Mission AI to help 250 small and medium sized businesses test Canadian made AI tools, with up to 10,000 in its first year. Jon Camerata, who spent nearly 19 years at ReachLocal and LOCALiQ, is the new chief revenue officer of fullthrottle.ai. BDC Mission AI · fullthrottle.ai