Buy, don’t build: SAP, Salesforce, Yext, HCLTech, Automation Anywhere and Bolt go shopping, and Accenture partners with Within
Platforms are buying the point solutions their AI agents need to do real work (proprietary data, execution inside legacy systems, a customer-facing voice, a new channel), and companies that own those pieces are being bought for strategic fit, not scale.
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GoShineacquired by
Flamel.aiacquired by
Listen Labsacquired by
Robotiq.aiacquired by
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- Dokaiacquired by
Bolt
Withinstrategic partnership with
Why these deals are strategic
The big platforms have stopped building the missing pieces of their AI products and started buying them. SAP bought the data its agents run on. HCLTech and Automation Anywhere bought agents that can act inside legacy systems and talk to customers. Yext and Salesforce bought new ways to reach customers, and Bolt bought a team. None of them needed the revenue; they needed the capability now, and they paid for the fit. If your product fills a gap in a bigger platform’s workflow, it is worth more inside that platform than on its own, and the window to sell is open.
Selected strategic deals
SAP buys TechWolf: the data behind HR agents
Why it’s strategic
SAP is buying context for its AI agents, not another HR feature. TechWolf’s context graph maps the work people do and the skills they have, built from existing HR and business systems. It will ground the answers of SAP’s Joule assistant in that data and lower the cost of deploying workforce agents. A year after Workday agreed to pay $1.1bn for Sana, the HR suites are competing for the same asset.
What it means for founders
If you own structured, proprietary data that makes AI agents accurate in a specific domain, you hold what the big suites cannot build quickly. The more of the customer’s systems your data already connects to, the stronger your position.
Ghent-based AI work-intelligence platform. Customers include HSBC, GSK and PayPal.
German enterprise software group. TechWolf becomes a core of SAP SuccessFactors.
Transaction details
- 6 Oct 2026
- Pending, close expected Q4 2026
- Undisclosed
- Europe → Europe
Yext buys GoShine: brand visibility in AI search
Why it’s strategic
More local discovery now starts in an AI assistant, and brands want to know whether they appear in the answer. GoShine takes Yext’s Scout product from store-level to brand-level visibility in AI search, a year after Yext bought Places Scout for local search intelligence. Yext says it was GoShine’s first customer after the deal.
What it means for founders
Tools that measure visibility in AI search are being bundled into the platforms that already own the brand and location data. As a stand-alone dashboard, visibility is a feature; inside a platform that can act on it, it becomes a must-have.
GoShineIsraeli AI search visibility platform: shows brands what keeps them out of AI answers and creates content to win them.
NYSE-listed marketing platform for multi-location brands, built on structured location data.
Transaction details
- May–Jul 2026 (Yext FQ2)
- Completed
- Undisclosed
- Middle East → US
Yext buys Flamel.ai: from seeing to acting
Why it’s strategic
Paid media was the missing channel in Yext’s platform. Yext plans to connect its Scout competitive data to Flamel’s targeting and budget models, so that ad spend goes to the locations where a brand is losing to competitors. Together with GoShine, it closes the loop: measure visibility in AI search, then act on it.
What it means for founders
In marketing tech, measuring and acting are converging into one platform. If your product turns a buyer’s data into action (spend, content, campaigns), you are the piece that makes their insight pay.
Flamel.aiAI marketing platform that adapts campaigns, ads and local presence for each location of franchise and multi-location brands.
Yext (see above). Announced at its Envision customer conference.
Transaction details
- 30 Sep 2026
- Pending, close expected by Jan 2027
- Undisclosed
- US → US
Salesforce buys Listen Labs: a strategic exit beats the next round
Why it’s strategic
Salesforce gets a way for its customers to hear from their own customers at scale, inside the CRM where the customer data and the campaigns already live. Listen Labs launched its product in April 2025 and reached about $30m of annualised revenue. According to reports, it walked away from a term sheet at a $1.5bn valuation to sell for around $2bn, roughly three years after it was founded.
What it means for founders
For AI-native companies with real traction in customer research and CX, a strategic buyer can now be the better-priced alternative to the next funding round. The premium comes from fit with the buyer’s platform, not from today’s revenue.
Listen LabsSan Francisco AI customer research platform. AI agents run interviews by voice, text and video and synthesise the results.
San Francisco CRM group. The team joins Salesforce AI Labs.
Transaction details
- 29 Sep 2026
- Pending, close expected by Jan 2027
- Undisclosed (reported c. $2bn)
- US → US
HCLTech buys Robotiq.ai: hands for AI agents
Why it’s strategic
HCLSoftware’s agents could decide what to do; Robotiq.ai lets them do it inside the legacy applications where much enterprise work still happens and APIs are missing. The deal takes HCL UnO Agentic, its agent orchestration platform, from orchestration to execution.
What it means for founders
Automation that works in regulated, legacy-heavy environments such as banks, insurers and telecoms is becoming the execution layer of agent platforms. Depth in those industries is what turns a niche RPA product into a strategic one.
Robotiq.aiZagreb-based enterprise RPA platform. Customers include large banks, insurers and telecom providers.
HCLSoftware, the software division of HCLTech, serving more than 20,000 organisations.
Transaction details
- 28 Sep 2026
- Pending, close expected Nov 2026
- Undisclosed
- Europe → APAC
Automation Anywhere buys Boost.ai: a voice for the agent platform
Why it’s strategic
Boost.ai gives Automation Anywhere the front door: customer and employee conversations that can now be carried through to execution in the back office. Together with Aisera, bought in late 2025, it aims to cover customer, employee and business operations on one platform.
What it means for founders
Conversational and voice AI is being absorbed into end-to-end automation platforms. A stand-alone chatbot is a feature; a conversation that triggers real work in a regulated back office is strategic.
Norwegian conversational and voice AI platform in 36+ languages, serving enterprises in finance, telecoms and insurance.
US agentic process automation company, running nearly half a billion agent and automation executions a year.
Transaction details
- 7 Oct 2026
- Pending, close expected Q4 2026
- Undisclosed
- Europe → US
Bolt buys Dokai: an agent team for the enterprise
Why it’s strategic
AI app builders are moving from individual makers to enterprise teams. Dokai’s orchestration layer lets agents complete multi-step work inside enterprise systems without a person in the loop; Bolt will use it for longer builds and to connect customer apps to CRMs and internal data.
What it means for founders
In AI developer tools, buyers pay for a capability and a team that extend their platform more than for current revenue. A small team whose agents work inside enterprise systems can be a strategic asset.
San Francisco start-up building autonomous agents for go-to-market work: research, enrichment and CRM operations.
BoltBolt.new by StackBlitz: AI platform to build and deploy full-stack web apps in natural language.
Transaction details
- 29 Sep 2026
- Completed
- Undisclosed
- US → US
Selected strategic partnership
Accenture invests in Within: a channel and a signal
Why it’s strategic
Accenture wants to help clients see how work actually gets done before they deploy AI agents on top of it. Within records how employees work across applications, including offline handoffs and exceptions, and turns it into a continuously updated “Work Brain” that agents can use. Accenture invested through Accenture Ventures and will take it into client programmes.
What it means for founders
For enterprise AI companies, a global integrator is both a channel and a signal. It puts the product in front of the enterprises deciding what is a must-have, and in front of the strategic buyers who watch where the integrators place their bets. Within works on the same asset SAP bought with TechWolf, the data on how work gets done, and a partnership like this can be the step before an acquisition.
WithinWork-intelligence platform that maps how employees work across applications into a “Work Brain” for AI agents.
Global professional services group, investing through Accenture Ventures.
Partnership details
- 23 Sep 2026
- Active
- Undisclosed
- Investment and go‑to‑market partnership
For founders
Considering a strategic exit?
If you have compelling technology that could create more value inside a larger platform, buyers are active now. We are happy to talk through the options open to you, starting with an assessment of where you stand.
Sources
- SAP News: SAP to acquire TechWolf (6 Oct 2026)
- Orrick: Workday to acquire Sana for $1.1 billion (Sep 2025)
- Pulse 2.0: Yext Q2 fiscal 2027 results, incl. GoShine acquisition
- Calcalist: Yext acquires Israeli start-up GoShine
- Built In NYC: Yext acquires Places Scout (Feb 2025)
- Yext: definitive agreement to acquire Flamel.ai (30 Sep 2026)
- Yext: Envision 2026 recap (8 Oct 2026)
- Salesforce: definitive agreement to acquire Listen Labs (29 Sep 2026)
- SiliconANGLE: Salesforce to acquire Listen Labs in reported $2B deal (1 Oct 2026)
- Dealroom: Salesforce buys Listen Labs in $2B AI deal (29 Sep 2026)
- HCLTech: HCLSoftware to acquire Robotiq.ai (28 Sep 2026)
- Nordic Capital: agreement to sell Boost.ai to Automation Anywhere (7 Oct 2026)
- Unite.AI: Automation Anywhere agrees to acquire Boost.ai (7 Oct 2026)
- Bolt: Bolt acquires Dokai (29 Sep 2026)
- Accenture: strategic investment in and partnership with Within (23 Sep 2026)
- New Momentum Partners case study: Vocalls → CallMiner
- New Momentum Partners case study: Macaly → team.blue
Important information
- For general information only. Not investment, legal, tax or financial advice, and not an offer, solicitation or recommendation to buy or sell any security or to enter into any transaction.
- Based solely on public information as of the publication date. We have not verified it independently, make no representation or warranty as to its accuracy or completeness, and do not undertake to update it. Values marked “reported” are press estimates, not confirmed by the parties.
- Views on strategy, valuation and future deals are our own opinion and forward-looking; actual outcomes may differ materially. They are not statements of any company’s plans.
- Unless stated otherwise, New Momentum Partners did not advise on the transactions described and has no relationship with the companies named. We may advise, or seek to advise, companies mentioned or their competitors. Names and logos belong to their owners and are used for identification only.
- New Momentum Partners accepts no liability for any loss arising from the use of this article. Seek independent professional advice before acting on it.
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