Drift

Drift, founded in 2015 by former HubSpot executives David Cancel and Elias Torres, pioneered the conversational marketing category by fundamentally reimagining how B2B businesses interact with website visitors. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts (with some sources citing Cambridge, MA), Drift created a new paradigm shifting companies away from static lead forms toward real-time, personalized conversations that accelerate the buyer journey and drive revenue growth. The platform's AI-powered chatbots, live chat, and conversational intelligence capabilities help businesses engage prospects instantly, qualify leads automatically, and book meetings seamlessly—transforming passive website browsing into active revenue-generating conversations.

The company experienced rapid growth following its 2015 founding, expanding from David Cancel and Elias Torres's vision to serve over 5,000 customers globally (later growing to 50,000+ customers) across industries including technology, financial services, healthcare, and professional services. Drift's success attracted significant venture capital investment, culminating in a Series C round of $60 million, and the company achieved unicorn status in September 2021 when Vista Equity Partners acquired a majority stake at a valuation exceeding $1 billion. This strategic partnership with Vista Equity Partners validated Drift's technology and market position while providing resources for accelerated product development and market expansion.

Drift's platform combines multiple conversational engagement tools into an integrated suite. The flagship Bionic Chatbots leverage generative AI trained on each customer's specific content to deliver accurate, efficient conversations with minimal maintenance required from marketing teams. The Site Concierge product provides intelligent chat routing, automatically directing visitors to the most appropriate team members based on their inquiries. The platform includes 24/7 meeting scheduling synced with team calendars, conversational landing pages that transform passive browsing into active dialogue, and real-time notifications ensuring sales teams never miss high-value opportunities. Customers using Bionic Chatbots saw 50% more opportunities with 45% fewer meetings, while those deploying Site Concierge experienced up to 7x increase in buyer engagement.

In February 2024, Drift's journey took a significant turn when Vista Equity-backed Salesloft acquired the company in a strategic consolidation move. The transaction brought together Salesloft's sales engagement platform (which excels in managing and automating sales workflows) with Drift's conversational marketing and AI chatbot expertise. The combined entity serves nearly 6,000 global customers and employs teams across Atlanta, Boston, Tampa, San Francisco, London, Warsaw, Cape Town, and Guadalajara. The integration aims to create a comprehensive AI-powered Revenue Orchestration Platform that orchestrates personalized, omnichannel buyer journeys from initial website visit through closed deal, bridging the traditional gap between marketing-generated web engagement and sales-driven outreach.

Following the acquisition, leadership transitioned with Scott Ernst taking over as CEO from founder David Cancel, who moved into an Executive Chairman role before transitioning to a Scout position at Sequoia Capital. Co-founder Elias Torres continues as CTO, maintaining technical leadership and product vision. The platform continues to be sold separately while deeper integration with Salesloft's revenue orchestration capabilities unfolds, enabling customers to benefit from both platforms' strengths. Drift was recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Conversation Automation Solutions for B2B, Q1 2024 report, receiving the highest scores possible in 17 of 33 criteria.

Pricing for Drift's Premium plan starts at $2,500 per month when billed annually, offering live chat, meetings, custom chatbots, real-time notifications, and conversational landing pages. Advanced and Enterprise tiers provide additional capabilities with custom pricing. The platform integrates with leading CRM and marketing automation systems including Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and now deeply with Salesloft, enabling seamless data flow and coordinated revenue operations across the entire customer lifecycle.