Gravitytank, a Chicago innovation consultancy that helps brands grow their businesses, has been acquired by Salesforce.
Gravitytank announced the news Tuesday in a blog post, and said it will combine its "expertise in design, research and strategy to help Salesforce’s customers shape their customer company vision and connect with their customers, employees and partners in new ways."
Founded in 1999, Gravitytank works with brands across a range of industries, including consumer electronics, consumer packaged goods, digital technology, and financial services. It has worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, OfficeMax, the United Way and Goodyear. It helped Frito-Lay come up with the snack, the packaging, and the brand around Cracker Jack'd, and it worked with Chicago restaurant BrightWok Kitchen on its menu and ordering experience.
"Over the past 16 years, we’ve strived to combine design, research and strategy to bring clarity to the challenges of innovation," Gravitytank Partner Shailesh Patel wrote in the blog post. "And we look forward to continuing that work at Salesforce, where we’ll be able to pursue our passion for helping customers around the world identify new business opportunities, reinvigorate their brands and disrupt their industries, on a much larger scale as part of the world’s #1 CRM platform."
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Gravitytank is the second Chicago-based agency Salesforce has acquired in the last year. Last September Salesforce bought ÄKTA, a five-year-old company from Chicago entrepreneur John Roa. Roa has since left and has announced he's launching a new startup.
Salesforce has been on a spending spree recently, having spent over $4 billion in acquisitions in the last year and a half.
Gravitytank has offices in Chicago and San Fransisco. Its Chicago headquarters (114 W Illinois St) is actually right across the street from Salesforce's Chicago office (111 W Illinois St) in River North.
Image via Gravitytank
