Adobe acquires Indian marketing automation startup Rilo

Adobe has acquired Rilo, an India-based startup that builds tools to automate marketing workflows, through a deal combining technology licensing and team acquisition. The company is shutting down following the transaction, with its six-person team moving to Adobe. No financial terms were disclosed.

Background on Rilo#

Founded in 2025 by IIT graduates Georgi Boby and Dhruv Jaglan, Rilo had recently raised $1 million at a $10 million valuation from investors including PeakXV, DeVC, and Day Zero Ventures. The startup built a workflow builder that enabled marketing and go-to-market teams to automate routine processes—from competitive analysis and content repurposing to analyzing sales calls and distributing materials across channels. The platform operated similarly to workflow-as-a-service tools like Claude Cowork and ChatGPT Work.

Adobe's expanding AI marketing focus#

This marks Adobe's second acquisition from India following its 2023 purchase of Rephrase.ai, a video-creation platform. The addition of Rilo's technology reflects Adobe's strategy to integrate AI-powered automation into its creative and customer experience products—particularly as businesses increasingly rely on generative AI to streamline campaign creation, deployment, tracking, and audience targeting across platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.

Last year, Adobe undertook a larger marketing push with the $1.9 billion acquisition of SEO optimization company Semrush, signaling its commitment to building a comprehensive marketing intelligence suite for enterprise customers.

Competitive landscape#

The move places Adobe alongside rivals expanding their own marketing automation capabilities. Canva, for instance, has pursued multiple acquisitions to bolster its marketing and animation toolset, while Amazon, Google, and Meta have built proprietary AI-powered marketing infrastructure directly into their platforms.