A New Chapter for Contentful: Scaling Our Vision with Salesforce

As co-founders of Contentful, Paolo Negri and I are incredibly excited by today’s news that Contentful has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Salesforce. Today’s milestone is the culmination of 13 years of teamwork, perseverance, technical innovation, laughter, tears, inspiration, and plenty of key learnings along the way. 

In 2014, Contentful was born out of the singular insight that Content Management System (CMS) tools were not suitable for native mobile applications at the time. Back then, I was developing mobile apps for the iPhone while Paolo was building backend services for video games. We were both deeply frustrated by other CMS platforms, most of which were developed in the early 2000s to run on a single server and manage individual web pages.

Our driving idea was to manage content as pure structured information, decoupling front-end presentation from content management and delivery. The solution was an API-first, cloud-native platform. Our headless approach enabled customers to decide themselves how they want to use their content instead of the CMS prescribing the visual presentation. It made Contentful very flexible and interoperable with other tools required to power modern digital experiences.

Developers loved this new API-centric approach, not only for mobile apps, but also to deliver content to the web and across channels, and as a result the company scaled rapidly. By 2019, we had more than 2,000 customers and 300 employees, numbers that doubled again just a few years later. We also doubled the average number of API calls we handle each month, from 90 billion in 2023 to 180 billion now. Fueling this adoption, we amassed a leading ecosystem of more than 20,000 apps and integrations, showcasing the platform’s unmatched extensibility. A brand new office space in Berlin and additional offices in Denver, London, New York and San Francisco accelerated our momentum. 

As the internet continued to evolve, the mobile web emerged and digital experiences became more and more dynamic (and complex). Contentful’s novel approach proved time and time again to be the right solution for many of the most recognized companies on the planet.

Fast-forward to today, and the internet is yet again at a major inflection point. AI agents now outnumber humans on the Web, forcing companies to rethink how digital experiences are created, optimized, and deployed. As it turns out, Contentful’s API-first, structured content architecture is perfectly suited to help companies navigate the emergence of the Agentic Web. We were either very lucky or extremely prescient. Paolo and I like to believe it's a bit of both.

Today’s news is strong validation that the core idea behind our platform is as relevant today as it was when we started the company. Maybe even more so. 

Joining forces with Salesforce accelerates our mission of enabling modern enterprises to dynamically assemble and deliver rich digital experiences across every channel. Our API-first architecture and deep domain expertise will enhance Salesforce’s Headless 360. Together, we’ll redefine how brands interact with customers by giving Agentforce the content layer it needs to make every interaction truly engaging.

As we begin this journey, Contentful customers remain our top priority. We are fully committed to delivering the same level of innovation, flexibility, and enterprise-grade support customers have come to expect from our team.

We’re so grateful for each and every customer, partner and employee who has helped make Contentful the company it is today. Thank you. Paolo and I are incredibly proud of all that we’ve accomplished together, and we’re genuinely excited for what the future holds.