Adobe just picked up Rilo, a six-person marketing intelligence startup out of India, in a licensing and team acquisition deal confirmed to TechCrunch. Terms weren’t disclosed, but a source said investors are getting an exit. That’s a fast turnaround — Rilo only launched in 2025, founded by IIT batchmates Georgi Boby and Dhruv Jaglan, and raised $1 million from Peak XV, DeVC, and Day Zero Ventures at a $10 million valuation.
The startup built custom workflow tools for go-to-market teams: competitor intelligence, content repurposing, sales call analysis, and distribution. Jaglan said on LinkedIn that more than 10,000 people tried the product. Rahul Gupta of Day Zero Ventures called the workflow builder “way ahead of the curve,” saying it should prove valuable to Adobe for “enhancing customer experience and productivity.”
Rilo shuts down post-acquisition, so its customers are out of luck. But the technology and team now slot into Adobe’s CX and marketing suite. DeVC’s Rahul Mathur told TechCrunch the fit makes sense: Adobe gets workflow automation that gives customers visibility into actions they take on the platform. That matters because marketing stacks have shifted hard toward AI-driven automation — not just creating campaigns but tracking them, pulling action items from sales calls, and boosting visibility on AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude.
This is Adobe’s second India acquisition after Rephrase.ai in 2023, and it follows the company’s $1.9 billion Semrush buy last year. The pattern is clear: Adobe is bolting on specialized AI capabilities rather than building everything in-house. Rivals aren’t standing still either. Canva keeps expanding its marketing portfolio through acquisitions, while Amazon, Google, and Meta have all built their own AI-powered marketing rails. A six-person team won’t move the needle on its own, but the workflow automation angle addresses a real gap — and Adobe clearly thinks the IP is worth more than the $10 million Rilo was valued at just months ago.
