Google buys startup that coaches companies on Google apps to get more companies on Google apps

Enterprise is an increasingly big deal for Google as the company searches for another business beyond ads. Google is adding to this arsenal, scooping up a small startup to help it sell its apps to more businesses.

That startup, Synergyse, is based in Toronto, founded by former Googlers and not terribly big. Its core product is a training software, or “virtual coach,” for companies using Google’s apps for work like Gmail, Drive and Docs — a model that means it would eventually either be subsumed by Google or destroyed by it.

Congrats to Synergyse on accomplishing the former!

Google did not cough up the acquisition price, nor much about Synergyse’s existing business, although the post announcing the deal did share that the startup’s customers have a “35 percent higher adoption” of Google’s apps. Apps and cloud storage are the twin pillars of Google’s enterprise effort. Right now, Google says it has two million customers paying for apps, a division taking on Microsoft and other enterprise companies.

Notably, the post also mentions that Synergyse is a Google cloud customer. As we reported earlier, Google is on the prowl for companies to boost its apps business, overseen by enterprise boss Diane Greene. One thing Google is looking for in these acquisition targets is startups running on its cloud, rather than those from competitors Microsoft and Amazon.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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