Salesforce Agrees to Buy Military Logistics Startup Rune, With Price Reported at $375 Million

Salesforce wants to sell software to the military, and it is writing bigger checks to do it.

The company signed a definitive agreement on Oct. 29, 2026 to acquire Rune Technologies, a Washington, D.C.-based startup whose AI software forecasts supply needs for frontline units. Salesforce expects the deal to close in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2027, which ends Jan. 31, 2027.

Salesforce has not publicly stated what it is paying. Resilience Media, citing two sources familiar with the matter, reported the price at $375 million in a mix of cash and stock. Neither Salesforce nor Rune responded to requests for comment on that figure.

What Rune sells

Rune's flagship product is TyrOS. It collects inventory data and helps planners work out what units need, when they need it, and how best to move it.

The software is built to keep working with little or no network connection, then sync when a link returns. In the field, connectivity is often limited or contested.

The Army and Marine Corps already use it. Rune says TyrOS has been fielded with the 25th Infantry Division, the 4th Infantry Division, XVIII Airborne Corps and the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. Resilience Media reported that Rune landed a $99 million Army contract this summer.

Rune was founded in 2024 by David Tuttle and Peter Goldsborough, both Anduril alumni. Tuttle has said he started the company to focus on "one thing only: logistics in the military," rather than drones or weapons.

The numbers

Rune has raised about $30 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Point72 Ventures and IQT, the CIA-backed nonprofit venture firm formerly known as In-Q-Tel. Washington Technology reported a $24 million Series A in July 2025, led by Human Capital. PitchBook put the company's last valuation at $127 million.

If the reported $375 million is accurate, Salesforce is paying roughly three times that valuation. It is also about 12 times the capital Rune raised.

Where it fits in Missionforce

Rune goes into Missionforce, the unit Salesforce launched in 2025 to serve national security and defense agencies. Salesforce says Missionforce has grown 80% year over year and now counts customers across all six branches of the U.S. military. It holds a 10-year, $5.6 billion Army contract.

Salesforce says that work has so far centered on back-office administrative record keeping and strategic planning. Rune is meant to push it toward the battlefield.

"The acquisition of Rune Technologies reflects our long-term commitment to offer the leading commercial AI platform for national security, from the enterprise to the tactical edge," Missionforce CEO Kendall Collins said in a post on X. Salesforce calls Rune its "most significant national security-focused acquisition."

Salesforce's announcement describes a three-layer stack: enterprise systems of record, a strategic headquarters layer, and an operational edge. Missionforce already covered the first two. Rune supplies the third.

Part of a buying run

This is one of several large purchases by Salesforce this year. It agreed to buy AI agent platform Fin, formerly Intercom, for $3.6 billion. It bought Qualified for $1.2 billion and signed a deal for Listen Labs, which had walked away from a $125 million Series C term sheet at a $1.5 billion valuation. Last week it also agreed to buy Braze in a deal reported at more than $5.6 billion.

The spending comes amid investor concern that rapid AI adoption could erode demand for traditional software. Defense is a market with large, long-term government buyers. That makes it an obvious place to look for growth.

Resilience Media also noted that many early-stage defense startups are struggling to raise growth rounds while they wait for contracts. It said better-capitalized players, including legacy primes and "neo-primes" like Anduril and Helsing, could be buyers.

Open questions for the Army

The customers here are military units and program offices, and the money behind their contracts is taxpayer money. Salesforce has not said how the deal is structured. It has also not said whether Rune's existing Army ordering vehicle, including the reported $99 million contract, carries over unchanged, or which enterprise systems Rune's edge data will sync into.

Units already running TyrOS will want those answers. The deal is not expected to close until the quarter ending Jan. 31, 2027, so Salesforce has roughly three months to spell out what happens to those contracts.