Credit: Shutterstock photoSalesforce (NYSE: CRM ) is about to acquire GoInstant, a young startup specializing in downloads-free co-browsing. Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, GoInstant was founded in 2010 with seed financing led by Freestyle Capital's Josh Felser and David Samuel, as well as Baseline's Steve Anderson. LinkedIn (NASDAQ: LNKD ) co-founder Reid Hoffman is also an investor.
According to the Wall Street Journal , GoInstant raised $1.7 million from these and other investors, including Yuri Milner, a prominent Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) investor, and Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's former VP of User Growth, Mobile and International.
GoInstant serves corporations who wish to implement co-browsing in sales and customer support scenarios, among others. The service differs from other co-browse and screen share technologies by allowing its users to interact together in real-time.
Clients of GoInstant include Formspring, Joyent, and StockTwits.
In February, the company announced a new feature called GoInstant Chat, enabling participants to communicate in real-time during a co-browsing session.
Salesforce, which recently acquired Buddy Media for more than $600 million , will reportedly pay more than $70 million for GoInstant.
Full Disclosure: Jason Raznick, Benzinga's President and co-founder, is an investor in GoInstant.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
