The Gist
- CRM is shifting from record-keeping to coordination. Brevo’s funding highlights growing demand for platforms that translate customer data into real-time guidance and action, not just stored information.
- Modern CRMs win on speed and usability, not feature sprawl. Challengers are gaining ground by reducing operational overhead, embedding AI into workflows and delivering faster time to value for mid-market and growth teams.
- The CRM–CDP boundary is blurring around activation. As CRMs absorb segmentation, behavioral data and orchestration capabilities, buyers care less about categories and more about whether insights reach the right teams at the right moment.
Brevo’s $583 million funding round this month isn’t just a capital inflection, it’s a signal that the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software ecosystem is tilting.
Once dominated by platforms such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot, the market now faces a wave of challenger innovation powered by AI, automation and composable data architectures.
Brevo’s valuation surge suggests that enterprises are hungry for CRM approaches that blur the lines between customer engagement, predictive intelligence and real-time orchestration.
This article examines what Brevo’s raise signals for the CRM market, how AI is reshaping platform differentiation and where CRM increasingly overlaps with Customer Data Platforms (CDPs).
Table of Contents
What Brevo’s Funding Says About the CRM Market
Brevo’s half-billion-dollar raise stands out not just for its size, but for its timing. Capital at this scale is becoming increasingly selective, especially for horizontal software categories like CRM, which many investors consider mature. That this round closed at all signals strong confidence that meaningful disruption is still possible, even in markets long dominated by incumbents. It suggests investors see Brevo not as a niche email or SMB tool, but as a platform positioned to compete on broader CRM and customer engagement capabilities.
While funding announcements often focus on valuation and growth, this raise also reflects a broader shift in how enterprises evaluate CRM platforms, particularly around execution, simplicity and measurable outcomes.
Yemi Oluseun, chief transformation officer at The Change Hive, told CMSWire, “Brevo’s raise is less about funding and more about a category shift. Buyers are looking for platforms that reduce operational drag, not add to it, and that signal confidence that CRM can actually be used day to day without heavy technical overhead.”
As CRM buyers reassess what they need from customer platforms, speed to value and operational simplicity are becoming as important as breadth of features.
Sonu Kapoor, Microsoft MVP, founder and CEO at SOLID Software Solutions, told CMSWire, “Challengers are solving for speed, activation and cost-to-outcome. Traditional CRMs are excellent systems of record, but they’re often slow to deploy and heavy to operate when teams want to act on customer signals quickly. Platforms like Brevo prioritize fast time-to-value, built-in automation, and AI that helps teams decide what to do next, not just store more data.”
Brevo at a Glance
Key background details on the company behind the funding headline.
| Company | Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| What It Does | Customer engagement and CRM platform spanning marketing, sales, conversations and automation |
| Core Channels | Email, SMS, WhatsApp, chat, marketing automation and CRM |
| Customers | 600,000+ businesses across 180 countries |
| Employees | 1,000+ globally |
| ARR Milestones | Surpassed $100 million in 2023; expected to exceed $218 million in 2025 |
| Positioning | European-led CRM platform focused on usability, accessibility and integrated customer engagement |
Brevo’s Funding and AI Strategy, Explained
Brevo’s $583 million funding round and its February 2025 investment in an internal AI Lab provide important context for why the company is drawing renewed attention in the CRM market. Together, the two moves signal a deliberate shift from being viewed as an email- or SMB-centric tool toward positioning Brevo as a full customer engagement and CRM platform with global ambitions.
The funding round, led by General Atlantic and Oakley Capital, values Brevo at unicorn status and supports an aggressive expansion strategy centered on AI development, U.S. growth and continued M&A. Brevo expects to surpass $218 million in annual recurring revenue in 2025, with profitability already in place, and has set a long-term target of reaching $1.09 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Management and employees now represent the company’s largest shareholder group, reinforcing a product-led and execution-focused narrative rather than a short-term exit play.
On the product side, Brevo’s AI Lab is backed by a $55 million, five-year investment; the lab focuses on building proprietary AI agents directly into Brevo’s platform rather than relying on third-party overlays. These agents are designed to support marketing, sales and conversational workflows, with early use cases centered on personalization, campaign timing and customer engagement decisions.
A notable differentiator is Brevo’s emphasis on European-based infrastructure and GDPR-compliant AI development. AI agents developed by the Brevo AI Lab run on Brevo’s own servers within the European Union, a positioning that resonates with organizations concerned about data sovereignty, privacy and regulatory risk. This approach aligns with Brevo’s broader strategy of reducing operational friction while embedding intelligence directly into day-to-day CRM workflows.
Taken together, the funding round and AI Lab initiative reinforce the same strategic message: Brevo is betting that the next phase of CRM competition will be won not by adding more features, but by delivering usable intelligence faster, with lower complexity and clearer outcomes for mid-market and growth-focused organizations.
Modern CRM vs. Traditional CRM
A comparison of how emerging CRM platforms differ from incumbent systems in architecture, usability and AI execution.
| Dimension | Traditional CRM Platforms | Modern / Challenger CRM Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Core Role | System of record for contacts, accounts and pipelines | System of action that connects insight directly to execution |
| Time to Value | Long implementation cycles with heavy configuration | Fast deployment with opinionated, ready-to-use workflows |
| AI Integration | Layered on as features or copilots | Embedded into workflows to guide next-best actions |
| Operational Overhead | Requires admin teams, RevOps and external consultants | Designed to reduce dependency on specialized resources |
| Pricing Model | Complex, usage-based and add-on driven | Simpler, more predictable pricing structures |
| Target Buyer | Large enterprises with complex governance needs | Mid-market and fast-growing teams prioritizing agility |
Challengers Redefining CRM Value
The funding also highlights a growing tension between established CRM leaders and a new wave of challengers. Salesforce, Microsoft and HubSpot still command enormous market share, deep enterprise penetration and ecosystem gravity. But they also carry the weight of legacy architectures, complex implementations and expanding product sprawl. Challengers like Brevo are positioning themselves around simplicity, faster time to value, and more accessible pricing, especially for mid-market businesses that want CRM functionality without enterprise-grade overhead.
AI is central to that positioning. Rather than treating AI as a feature add-on or productivity enhancement, newer CRM platforms are framing it as a core differentiator in how customer data is activated. This includes automating segmentation (now offered by Salesforce), uncovering behavioral insights, guiding next-best actions and reducing manual configuration across marketing, sales, and service workflows. In this context, AI is not just about smarter recommendations. It is about lowering operational complexity and making CRM systems easier to deploy, use, and scale.
Related Article: How CDPs Bridge the Customer Data Gap CRM Can’t
What Enterprises Want from CRM Today
Enterprise expectations for CRM have expanded well beyond contact management and pipeline tracking. Modern CRM systems are increasingly judged by how well they uncover insights, anticipate customer needs and coordinate action across the entire customer lifecycle. Leaders are looking for platforms that can turn interaction data into guidance: which customers are at risk, where journeys break down, and what actions are most likely to improve outcomes.
AI plays a central role in this shift, but not as a standalone feature. Enterprises want AI that connects data across marketing, sales, service and digital channels to create a shared understanding of the customer. This includes predictive insights, journey orchestration and real-time recommendations that help teams act with confidence rather than relying on static rules or retrospective reports. The emphasis is on context and continuity, not isolated optimizations with individual tools.
What Enterprises Expect From CRM Today
How evaluation criteria have shifted as CRM moves from record-keeping to decision support.
| Expectation | Legacy CRM Reality | Modern CRM Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Insight Generation | Retrospective dashboards and reports | Predictive and real-time guidance |
| Customer Understanding | Fragmented views by function | Unified context across marketing, sales and service |
| Decision Support | Manual interpretation by users | AI-assisted prioritization and next-best actions |
| Execution Speed | Slow activation through layered tooling | Direct activation inside core workflows |
| Operational Complexity | High dependence on admins and consultants | Designed for day-to-day use by frontline teams |
The Practical Limits of AI Adoption
Even when advanced AI features are available, CRM vendors still run into a practical ceiling: many teams do not have the time or skills to use those capabilities in a consistent way.
Brian Riback, CMSWire contributor, martech and CRM optimization consultant, emphasized that “Too many companies confuse technological capabilities with the proficiencies of users to benefit from them. Take Einstein in Salesforce. The typical user struggles to use the AI.”
Enterprise buyers are increasingly prioritizing CRMs that help them act on customer intent in real time, rather than simply capture more data points.
Kapoor said, “Buyers increasingly want fewer layers of tooling and less dependence on large RevOps or consulting teams to get real engagement programs live.” He said that CRM demand is shifting toward platforms that reduce operational overhead and enable teams to launch and iterate customer engagement initiatives without heavy external dependencies.
Just as importantly, buyers are pushing back against fragmented CRM stacks. Years of layered add-ons have left many businesses with disconnected views of customers and competing sources of truth. Today’s demand is moving toward integrated platforms that unify data, insight and execution, so customer understanding carries across teams instead of resetting at each handoff.
CRM vs. CDP: Where the Lines Blur
Traditionally, CRM and CDP platforms served distinct purposes. CRM systems focused on transactional relationships, tracking accounts, contacts, deals, service cases and direct interactions across sales and support. CDPs emerged to manage behavioral data at scale, unifying signals from websites, apps, campaigns and devices to create richer customer profiles primarily used for segmentation and personalization.
CRM and CDP Capabilities: Where Boundaries Are Blurring
A practical view of how responsibilities are converging as CRM platforms absorb data and activation functions.
| Capability Area | CRM Platforms (Modern) | Standalone CDPs |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Activating insights across customer-facing teams | Unifying and governing customer data at scale |
| Data Types | Transactional and behavioral signals | Behavioral, event and identity data |
| Segmentation | Real-time and workflow-driven | Advanced, cross-channel and rule-based |
| Journey Orchestration | Embedded within sales, marketing and service workflows | Centralized orchestration across multiple systems |
| Governance and Control | Lightweight and execution-oriented | Strong governance for complex environments |
| Best Fit | Mid-market and execution-focused teams | Large enterprises with advanced data maturity |
How CRM Platforms Absorb CDP Capabilities
That distinction is becoming harder to maintain. Modern CRM platforms are steadily absorbing CDP-like capabilities, including identity resolution, event ingestion, behavioral tracking and real-time segmentation. As AI becomes embedded in CRM workflows, these platforms are increasingly expected to connect interaction data with behavioral signals and translate both into actionable insights. For many enterprises, the question is no longer where customer data lives, but whether it can be activated consistently across teams.
Kapoor explained that “CRMs are clearly expanding into CDP territory through identity stitching, behavioural event capture, segmentation and journey activation. For many mid-market teams, that ‘good enough’ CDP functionality inside the CRM is exactly what they want.” In these environments, embedded data capabilities allow CRMs to function as systems of action, activating insights quickly without the overhead of a standalone CDP.
When Standalone CDPs Still Make Sense
At the enterprise end of the spectrum, however, the distinction becomes more pronounced.
Anthony May, founder at Need An Attorney, suggested that “CRMs are definitely starting to get into the lightweight CDP territory, but that doesn’t mean a dedicated CDP stops making sense, especially in complex environments.” In businesses with advanced governance requirements, multiple activation endpoints, or sophisticated orchestration needs, standalone CDPs continue to serve as systems of record and control, complementing CRM execution rather than replacing it.
Not everyone is convinced that CDPs deliver enough value to justify the implementation effort, especially outside of the largest and most data-mature enterprises. Riback argued that, for many teams, the configuration and integration work a CDP requires can cancel out the theoretical benefits, particularly if core customer data management practices are still uneven.
The blurring of these lines reflects a broader shift in enterprise priorities. Buyers are less concerned with category definitions and more focused on outcomes. Whether insight originates in a CRM or a CDP matters less than whether it reaches the right teams, at the right time, with enough context to act confidently.
Related Article: CRM vs. CDP: What’s the Difference?
Top CRM Use Cases in 2025–2026
As CRM platforms evolve beyond record systems into decision and orchestration layers, a small set of high-impact use cases is emerging across sales, marketing, and customer experience. These use cases share a common theme: AI is no longer just accelerating tasks, it is shaping prioritization, timing, and execution across the customer lifecycle.
Event-Driven Engagement Replaces Passive Tracking
The most impactful CRM use cases are increasingly event-driven and AI-assisted, designed to close the gap between customer intent and response. Kapoor said that “The biggest shift is from passive tracking to AI-driven, event-based engagement. The most impactful use cases include:
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Predictive lifecycle messaging
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Proactive churn and retention plays
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Service deflection with intelligent human handoff
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Automated revenue operations that react to customer behaviour in near real time
Static scoring models based on firmographics (which describe the structural characteristics of a business) and past activity are giving way to dynamic, AI-driven prioritization. Modern CRM systems increasingly assess leads based on real-time behavior, intent signals, historical conversion patterns and contextual factors such as channel engagement or product interest. Rather than ranking leads once, AI continuously re-scores them as conditions change, helping teams focus attention where it is most likely to convert. The value is not just higher efficiency, but better alignment between sales effort and buyer readiness.
Personalization is moving beyond segmented campaigns toward adaptive experiences that respond to customer behavior as it unfolds. CRM platforms are beginning to use AI to tailor messages, offers, content and timing across channels based on live signals rather than static rules. This allows brands to maintain relevance at scale without overwhelming teams with manual configuration. In practice, personalization becomes a shared capability across marketing, sales, and service, rather than a siloed function.
Retention and expansion are becoming central CRM priorities as acquisition costs rise. AI-driven CRM systems now monitor usage patterns, engagement trends, support interactions and sentiment signals to identify early signs of churn or growth opportunities. These systems do not just flag risk, they increasingly recommend next-best actions, such as targeted outreach, service interventions, or tailored offers.
CRM as the Omnichannel Orchestration Layer
Perhaps the most significant shift is CRM’s growing role as an omnichannel orchestration layer. Instead of managing channels independently, AI-enabled CRM platforms coordinate timing, messaging, and escalation across journeys. A single customer action can now trigger responses across multiple systems, while AI monitors outcomes and adjusts future interactions. This orchestration reduces fragmentation, improves consistency and helps businesses deliver experiences that feel connected rather than disjointed.
Are Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft Really in Danger?
The short answer is no, Salesforce, HubSpot and Microsoft are not really in danger, but the longer answer is more nuanced. They remain deeply entrenched across enterprise and mid-market CRM environments, and their positions are not easily displaced. However, Brevo’s funding round signals that meaningful pressure is building at the edges of the market, especially around usability, cost structure, and how AI is being operationalized.
Why Incumbents Remain Hard to Displace
Incumbent CRM platforms benefit from scale, maturity, and ecosystem depth. They have vast partner networks, extensive integration libraries and long-standing customer relationships that make switching costly and disruptive. Their platforms support complex enterprise requirements around security, compliance, global operations and customization. In many large businesses, CRM is tightly woven into business processes, making replacement a multi-year decision rather than a reaction to a new feature or pricing model.
For many teams, CRM selection has become a tradeoff between depth and day-to-day usability rather than a simple comparison of feature lists. “They’re not going away, but they are at risk of losing ground in segments where speed, composability, and pragmatic AI matter more than platform breadth,” said Kapoor.
While challengers are gaining momentum, incumbents continue to benefit from scale, ecosystem depth, and enterprise trust. May believes that the big guys aren’t under existential threat. “What’s changing is how much patience buyers have for complexity and poor usability,” and argued that incumbents are not being displaced outright, but are increasingly pressured to simplify experiences and demonstrate faster value.
Where Challengers Are Gaining Ground
Challengers like Brevo are not trying to outmatch incumbents feature-for-feature. Instead, they are competing on simplicity, speed of deployment and clearer value propositions. Rather than layering AI onto already complex platforms, newer players often design workflows with AI embedded from the start, reducing setup friction and ongoing configuration burden. For smaller teams and fast-growing businesses, this can translate into faster time to value and lower operational overhead.
Price remains a meaningful differentiator, particularly as CRM costs rise with usage, data volume and added AI capabilities. Challengers tend to offer more predictable pricing and simpler packaging, which appeals to businesses that want flexibility without long-term lock-in. User experience also plays a growing role. Cleaner interfaces, fewer required configurations, and opinionated workflows can be more attractive than highly customizable but complex environments.
That said, challengers face their own limitations. Ecosystem breadth, advanced customization and deep enterprise integrations still favor incumbents, especially for large, regulated, or highly complex businesses. For many buyers, the decision is less about replacing a dominant platform and more about supplementing it, or choosing a different path for specific teams or regions.
Beyond technical migration, CRM changes carry a human cost that often decides whether a business is willing to move at all. “It is hard to imagine an SMB switching, no matter what is offered, given the level of effort necessary to make such a switch. There is also team morale in changing platforms,” reiterated Riback.
Ultimately, the CRM market is not headed toward sudden disruption, but gradual segmentation. Incumbents will continue to dominate large enterprises, while challengers carve out meaningful share by prioritizing usability, cost efficiency and focused AI-driven workflows.
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