Salesforce announced plans to acquire Cresta, a provider of AI-powered contact-center automation software, continuing its recent acquisition push. According to Sina Finance, people familiar with the matter said Salesforce agreed to pay $2.7 billion, although the company has not publicly disclosed the price.

The acquisition reflects Salesforce’s effort to strengthen its customer-service business amid competition from startups such as Sierra, led by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor. In September this year, Salesforce completed its $3.6 billion acquisition of AI customer-service provider Fin.

Cresta began as a project at Stanford University’s AI lab and was founded in 2017 by computer scientist Sebastian Thrun, who pioneered several AI projects at Google, along with Tim Shi and Zayd Enam. The company was valued at $1.6 billion after its 2022 Series C funding round; its latest valuation is unknown.

PitchBook data show that Cresta has raised more than $280 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global Management. Spokespeople for Salesforce and Cresta did not immediately comment.