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HubSpot’s Acquisition of Clearbit: A One-Year Lookback
HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit in late 2023 was intended to enhance its B2B data intelligence capabilities and position itself as a leader in data-driven marketing.
How has it played out a year later? A big factor in that question is the rollout of Breeze Intelligence, a new AI-driven tool that heavily relies on Clearbit’s data enrichment. That comes with the introduction “Breeze Credits,” an added layer to HubSpot’s pricing and product structure.
This analysis will explore how the Clearbit acquisition has impacted HubSpot’s product suite and its market position. Does the introduction of Breeze as an intermediary tool overcomplicate its product offering? Could potential complexity be problematic for a company whose core value proposition has always been simplicity and ease of use? Or is implementation a breeze as the Cambridge, Mass.-based company promises?
Introduction to HubSpot-Clearbit
With Clearbit, HubSpot wanted to provide customers with deeper intelligence on potential leads, enhanced data enrichment and a more comprehensive view of their target audiences.
Clearbit’s features have been repackaged under a “Breeze Credits” system. Customers purchase these credits separately to access Clearbit’s offerings, alongside other AI-driven features like HubSpot’s LLM-based Copilot services.
Sidharth Ramsinghaney is an M&A expert with extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, including large-scale integrations during his time at McKinsey. Now the director of corporate strategy and operations at Twilio, a provider of communication APIs for SMS, voice, email and authentication, he told CMSWire that HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit aligns well with HubSpot’s strategic goal of competing more effectively in the enterprise CRM market.
“By integrating Clearbit’s robust B2B data intelligence capabilities, HubSpot is positioning itself to offer more sophisticated, data-driven marketing solutions that can rival those of industry giants like Salesforce and Adobe,” said Ramsinghaney. “This move demonstrates HubSpot’s ambition to move upmarket and capture a larger share of enterprise clients; however, the execution of this strategy, particularly with the introduction of Breeze and its associated pricing structure, has created some challenges.”
Related Article: HubSpot Bets Big on AI With Breeze Intelligence
Why Did HubSpot Acquire Clearbit?
HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit was driven by the need to elevate its CRM and marketing platform with deeper B2B data intelligence, positioning itself as a more competitive option in the crowded landscape of digital marketing and sales enablement. At the time of the acquisition last fall, HubSpot was vying to expand its reach beyond small-to-medium-sized businesses and cater more effectively to enterprise-level clients who demand sophisticated data enrichment and actionable insights to optimize their customer acquisition strategies.
Clearbit, known for its ability to provide real-time data on companies, contacts, and buyer intent, seemed like a natural fit to close this gap.
The strategic rationale was clear: by integrating Clearbit’s B2B intelligence, HubSpot could offer its users richer, more granular data on their prospects, enabling sales teams to prioritize leads and tailor their outreach more effectively. This would allow HubSpot to compete more aggressively with industry heavyweights like Salesforce and Adobe Experience Cloud, which have long been leaders in the enterprise CRM and marketing intelligence space, respectively.
At the time, HubSpot’s challenge was standing out against more robust solutions offered by these competitors, including Salesforce’s integration with Tableau and Adobe’s acquisition of Marketo, which provided these platforms with deep data analysis and personalization capabilities.
HubSpot-Clearbit: ‘Winning Combination’ or ‘Misstep’?
HubSpot’s move was also seen as a response to increasing demand for AI-powered tools capable of delivering precise, real-time intelligence.
Yamini Rangan, CEO of HubSpot, said in the HubSpot-Clearbit announcement that to cut through the noise with deep relevance, businesses need reliable, high-quality data about their customers. “HubSpot’s AI-powered customer platform combined with Clearbit’s data will create a powerful, winning combination for our customers,” she said.
Matt Sornson, co-founder and CEO of Clearbit, said in the announcement that Clearbit has always believed that data is fundamental to the best B2B go-to-market teams. “By joining forces with HubSpot, we will unlock a whole new level of value for our customers and help all of B2B grow better,” he said.
Saul Marquez, CEO and founder of Outcomes Rocket, a specialty healthcare and wellness marketing and communications agency, told CMSWire that HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit signaled a strategic shift toward enhancing its data intelligence capabilities. However, he added, this move may be misaligned with its core strengths in CRM.
“HubSpot should focus on what it does best—CRM—and avoid venturing into the data business,” said Marquez, who added, “HubSpot’s investment seem like a misstep.”
Ramsinghaney explained that while the intent was to deliver more value through AI-driven tools and enhanced data capabilities, the implementation has indeed complicated HubSpot’s formerly streamlined offering.
“This complexity can be a double-edged sword,” Ramsinghaney said. “It allows for more customization and powerful features, but it also risks alienating users who valued HubSpot’s simplicity and transparency.”
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One customer had some improvement suggestions for Breeze. The user, enthusiastic about HubSpot’s Breeze Intelligence post-acquisition of Clearbit, requests enhancements to allow for active enrichment lists, customizable property enrichment at the Contact level, and selective property mapping to improve flexibility for CRM integrations beyond HubSpot.
Clearbit’s Role in Breeze and HubSpot’s Product Suite
Ameyna Jackson, senior product communications manager at HubSpot, told CMSWire that HubSpot used its learnings from Clearbit to build a native data enrichment and buyer intent solution that brings together trusted, publicly available data for over 200 million company and buyer profiles.
“This allows businesses to not only enrich their existing data, but their understanding of the customer, and deliver a more contextual, personalized experience at a time when consumer expectations have never been higher,” she said.
The launch of Breeze last month marked a pivotal moment in HubSpot’s attempt to integrate Clearbit’s B2B data intelligence into its broader CRM and marketing platform. Breeze Credits is a separate currency users must purchase to access Clearbit’s functionality.
When asked about potential complexity introduced with Breeze Credits, Jackson emphasized that “we’re listening closely to customer feedback to understand how everything we build and offer can better serve them.” Additionally, Jackson said that HubSpot’s philosophy has always been to give value before asking for value.
“That’s why Breeze, HubSpot’s collection of AI tools, is included with every subscription out-of-the-box. That means AI is embedded into the platform and not an add-on,” said Jackson. “No matter what HubSpot subscription a customer uses, they’ll have access to valuable AI functionality.”
Can HubSpot Customers Maintain Competitive Edge With Clearbit?
When asked about the integration of Clearbit and whether it has fully met its goals, Jackson emphasized that HubSpot’s product philosophy centers around rapid delivery and iterative improvement. “Our aim is to provide customers with cutting-edge technology as quickly as possible,” Jackson explained. “This allows them to harness its benefits early and maintain a competitive edge.”
David Raab, founder and CEO of the Customer Data Platform (CDP) Institute, agreed, stating that every vendor today has a growing AI capability, so he sees Breeze as maintaining competitive parity. The way Breeze is integrated is not exactly foreign to customers.
“Still, the value to customers is very real. The usage-based pricing model reflects the relatively high cost of processing AI tasks,” said Raab. “So I think it’s a way to match customer value to customer cost while also ensuring that HubSpot doesn’t lose money on its most active Breeze users. Because it’s similar to the way consumers are used to paying for ChatGPT and other AI tools, I think HubSpot customers will be comfortable with it.”
Marquez suggested HubSpot may be “overcomplicating its offering with Breeze credits and inflated pricing.” He offered HubSpot’s acquisition strategy could have included a “differentiated insights platform that amplifies their lead scoring tools for optimizing content creation insights and targeting vs trying to compete with traditional best in class data tools.”
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Impact on HubSpot’s Market Position and Competitive Edge
Can the Clearbit entry into HubSpot ultimately boost its competitive position in the CRM market?
Raab told CMSWire that neither Salesforce nor Adobe owns the equivalent of Clearbit, which provides B2B contact and company data.
“That’s probably because Salesforce and Adobe clients tend to be larger companies than HubSpot’s clients, and those larger companies already have relationships with data providers,” said Raab. “The advantage of a tightly integrated Clearbit is greatest at smaller firms, less likely to have those relationships and have fewer technical resources to directly integrate data from third-party vendors if they do have the relationships in place.”
Raab emphasized that while Clearbit is probably a selling point vs Salesforce and Adobe, he doesn’t believe that it makes much difference in the enterprise CRM market.
While HubSpot’s Breeze Intelligence only launched last month, it has already garnered strong attention. Jackson pointed to the overwhelming reaction, highlighting how businesses are increasingly struggling with fragmented customer journeys. The appeal of Breeze lies in its ability to simplify this complexity, offering a more cohesive understanding of customer behaviors.
Raab tends to agree, and said that he doesn’t think it will be a problem. “Customers will experiment with Breeze and determine which applications are worth the cost. I think smaller businesses can handle that,” he said.
Navigating the Path Forward: HubSpot’s Cacheflow Acquisition
HubSpot also expanded its offerings this month by acquiring Cacheflow, a B2B subscription billing management and CPQ solution provider. This move is expected to enhance HubSpot’s Commerce Hub by addressing key aspects of the buying process, particularly subscription billing and quote-to-cash efficiency.
Cacheflow’s platform aims to automate parts of the SaaS sales flow, allowing businesses to manage subscriptions and payments more effectively. The acquisition signals HubSpot’s intent to enhance its commerce capabilities while potentially broadening its appeal in the competitive CPQ and billing market.
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