Salesforce Pardot

Leading B2B marketing automation platform before acquisition and rebranding

Pardot was founded in 2007 as a B2B marketing automation platform designed to help companies generate and nurture leads, align sales and marketing teams, and measure marketing ROI. The platform provided email marketing, lead generation, lead scoring, and CRM integration capabilities specifically tailored for business-to-business marketing teams. Pardot quickly became one of the leading marketing automation solutions for mid-market and enterprise B2B companies. In 2012, ExactTarget acquired Pardot for approximately $95.5 million, and shortly after in 2013, Salesforce acquired ExactTarget for $2.5 billion, bringing Pardot into the Salesforce ecosystem. Under Salesforce ownership, Pardot was deeply integrated with Salesforce CRM and became a core component of Salesforce's marketing automation offerings. The platform continued to operate under the Pardot brand for nearly a decade as part of Salesforce's Marketing Cloud suite. In 2022, Salesforce officially rebranded Pardot as 'Marketing Cloud Account Engagement' to align with its broader Marketing Cloud product naming strategy. While the Pardot name was retired, the platform's functionality and technology continued as an integral part of Salesforce's B2B marketing automation capabilities, serving thousands of customers worldwide and maintaining its position as a leading solution for B2B marketers.