Oracle Corp. late Monday announced plans to acquire DataFox Inc., a San Francisco-based startup that provides sales intelligence for business-to-business companies.

DataFox hit the scene in 2013 and has since built up a sizable customer roster spanning multiple segments. MongoDB Inc., Bain & Co., Twilio Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are among the organizations that use data from the startup as part of their sales operations. Goldman Sachs is also an investor in DataFox.

The startup uses artificial intelligence to aggregate information about companies from sources such as news articles. Over the years, the startup has amassed a database of over 2.8 million firms that are currently adding about 1.2 million businesses annually. The platform logs more than 40 data points ranging from a company’s office locations and other basic information to what technology products it has bought.

Salespeople can use DataFox to look for leads that check the specific boxes they’re interested in. A technology consulting provider in New York City, for instance, could narrow down results to companies based out of the tristate area.

DataFox offers a number of value-added features that let salespeople further fine-tune their search. Among them is a recommendation engine that, according to the startup’s website, can automatically surface companies similar to an organization’s existing customers. A complementary alerting tool makes it possible to track developments that might present deal opportunities, for example, if a firm opens a new office.

DataFox will add a valuable business-to-business component to Oracle’s sales intelligence operation. The company is already a major supplier of marketing information about consumers thanks to its 2014 purchase of DataLogix Inc., a deal that was reportedly worth more than $1.2 billion.

Oracle plans to integrate DataFox’s platform with its cloud portfolio. The AI-based data aggregation features that the startup brings to the table will bolster the growing lineup of machine learning features that Oracle offers for customers, which was the main highlight of the company’s OpenWorld conference Monday.

Oracle didn’t disclose the financial terms of the acquisition. It comes less than a week after the company picked up goBalto Inc., a software-as-a-service provider that has developed a platform for managing clinical trials.

Photo: DataFox