CloudCraze

About CloudCraze

CloudCraze, founded in 2009 and later acquired by Salesforce in 2018, established itself as a significant player in the business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce sector. The company was created by EDL Consulting, with founder Bill Loumpouridis identifying a market need for a more accessible B2B e-commerce solution for companies that could not afford premium software licenses. Prior to its acquisition, the Chicago-based company had successfully raised $20 million in a funding round led by Insight Venture Partners with participation from Salesforce Ventures in 2017 to fuel product development and expansion.

The firm's core business revolves around providing a cloud-based, enterprise-class B2B commerce platform built natively on Salesforce. This native integration is a key differentiator, allowing for a unified data model and seamless processes across a client's e-commerce and customer relationship management (CRM) systems without the need for complex integrations. CloudCraze serves large enterprises that have complex B2B sales processes, and its client roster has included major global brands such as Coca-Cola, Cummins, Ecolab, and Land O' Lakes. The business model is software-as-a-service (SaaS), generating revenue through subscriptions to its platform.

Now known as Salesforce B2B Commerce, the product enables businesses to create and manage online storefronts tailored for the complexities of B2B transactions. Key features include support for customer-specific catalogs, negotiated pricing, bulk ordering, and multi-location shipping. By leveraging the Salesforce platform, it provides clients with a 360-degree view of the customer, combining data from sales, service, and marketing to inform commerce interactions. The platform's architecture allows for scalability and flexibility, enabling businesses to adapt to market changes and quickly launch new business models. The acquisition by Salesforce was a strategic move to fill a gap in its B2C-focused Commerce Cloud, providing a robust, native B2B solution to its extensive customer base.