HubSpot acquires Cacheflow, a platform that helps close software sales | TechCrunch
HubSpot has acquired Cacheflow, a startup building tools for the software sales closing process, for an undisclosed amount.
HubSpot CEO Yamini Rangan says that Cacheflow — which will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of HubSpot once the deal closes — will expand HubSpot’s Commerce Hub suite of subscription billing management and configure, price, and quote tools (CPQ).
“With Cacheflow, we’re doubling down on our vision for commerce by addressing two important areas of the buying experience: subscription billing and CPQ,” Rangan said in a statement. “Cacheflow is a leader in this space and has helped companies automate the purchase process to capture revenue faster.”
Cacheflow was founded in 2021 by Brian Zotter and Sarika Garg. Garg previously was head of product management at SAP’s Ariba Network and chief strategy officer at procurement automation firm Tradeshift. Zotter was VP of engineering at Salesforce before co-founding account engagement platform YesPath, which Medium acquired in 2017.
At a high level, Cacheflow provides billing and subscription management solutions aimed at simplifying business-to-business (B2B) software selling and buying. Through no-code dashboards, users can configure quotes, close deals, and upsell and renew customers.
The last time TechCrunch talked to Cacheflow (in December 2022), the San Francisco-based company had around a dozen customers and 16 employees. Prior to its exit, Cacheflow managed to raise $16 million from backers including GGV’s Glenn Solomon and GV (Google’s corporate venture arm).
“We made it our mission to reimagine the old CPQ and billing space, helping businesses automate revenue management, shorten the sales cycle, and get paid fast,” Garg said in a press release. “We believe deeply in the power of our solution, and are thrilled to join HubSpot.”
Cacheflow’s team will be joining HubSpot’s Commerce Hub org, where it’ll focus specifically on HubSpot’s tools for managing buying processes. HubSpot sees Commerce Hub as a new bright spot in its business — one that’s processed more than $1 billion in gross merchandise value since its 2023 launch.
In a note to investors, investment firm Stifel said that the Cacheflow deal signals HubSpot’s “continued focus” on Commerce Hub and its expansion.
“We believe the deal … may accompany a ‘relaunch’ similar to what the company has recently done with [its] Sales and Content Hub,” Stifel J. Parker Lane wrote. “[A] potential relaunch could be a benefit to the SKU that’s largely new and under-discussed.”
HubSpot shares rose 1.3% in late morning trading on Friday.
HubSpot’s latest acquisition — and its first since its $150 million purchase of B2B data provider Clearbit in 2023 — comes after an eventful year for the marketing and sales software giant.
This spring and summer, Google was reportedly mulling a bid to buy HubSpot for tens of billions of dollars (HubSpot’s current market cap is around $30 billion). That ultimately fell through — possibly as a result of regulatory scrutiny, per Bloomberg.
In June, HubSpot suffered a data breach affecting customer accounts — a big deal, considering HubSpot has more than 216,000 corporate clients. The company later told TechCrunch that it believed “less than 50” accounts were compromised.
