By Cara Lombardo and Dana Cimilluca 

Facebook Inc. is nearing a deal to buy Kustomer, a startup that specializes in customer-service platforms and chatbots, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal, which could be completed as soon as Monday afternoon assuming talks don't fall apart, would value New York-based Kustomer at a little over $1 billion, the people said. Closely held Kustomer was valued at $710 million in a private funding round roughly a year ago, according to PitchBook.

Kustomer already has a relationship with Facebook. Its offerings allow companies to aggregate and respond to customer inquiries that come in through Facebook Messenger. In October, Kustomer said it also began integrating with Facebook's Instagram messaging.

Facebook, which has been in the spotlight for its handling of political and other content on its platform, has been making a big push into what Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has called "social commerce." This deal could further that effort. In May, the social-media giant launched Facebook Shops, which lets companies create online stores through Facebook and Instagram.

Kustomer was founded in 2015 by Brad Birnbaum and Jeremy Suriel, two entrepreneurs who sold a previous company to Salesforce.com Inc. Kustomer's investors include Coatue Management and Tiger Global Management.

Facebook, which has a market value of over $790 billion, has a long history of deal making, having purchased over 100 companies, according to FactSet. Its highest-profile acquisitions include paying around $1 billion for Instagram in 2012 -- a far cry from what the popular photo- and video-sharing platform is likely worth now -- and around $19 billion for WhatsApp in 2014. In May, it bought Giphy, an online platform where users can search for animated photos known as GIFs, for around $400 million.

Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com and Dana Cimilluca at dana.cimilluca@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2020 11:21 ET (16:21 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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