Salesforce pledges to invest in AI innovation, workforce development, and sustainability initiatives in Australia
Welcomes 10,000+ attendees to Agentforce World Tour Sydney to hear from customers including Canva, Fisher & Paykel, and Scape
Announces $1.2 million in grants to support reforestation and clean energy ecopreneurship across the globe and in Australia with Arbor Day Foundation and New Energy Nexus
Sydney — February 26, 2025 — Salesforce today announced at Agentforce World Tour Sydney, plans to invest $2.5 billion in Australia over the next five years to support AI innovation, workforce development, and sustainability initiatives.
Salesforce is experiencing strong growth in Australia as it welcomes 10,000+ customers, partners, employees, and stakeholders to its largest ever local event. Attendees from organisations of all sizes and industries will gather to learn how to leverage the remarkable innovation cycle driven by proactive autonomous agents through Agentforce.
This investment underscores Salesforce’s commitment to supporting Australia’s vision of harnessing artificial intelligence to grow its economy, support local industry, and create a more prosperous future for all Australians. Salesforce aims to contribute significantly to Australia’s economic growth and technological leadership.
Australian business leaders are challenged by low productivity growth, a tight labour market and higher than ever customer expectations. Empowering their employees with Agentforce and limitless digital labour is the breakthrough they need.
Frank Fillmann, EVP & General Manager, Salesforce Australia and New Zealand
“We’re proud to invest in Australia to help organisations of all sizes transform their operations and redefine their workforces with agentic AI,” said Frank Fillmann, EVP & General Manager, Salesforce Australia and New Zealand. “Australian business leaders are challenged by low productivity growth, a tight labour market and higher than ever customer expectations. Empowering their employees with Agentforce and limitless digital labour is the breakthrough they need.”
“We know that harnessing the power of artificial intelligence is critical in unlocking our future economic potential and this investment will assist in strengthening our digital economy,” said Bran Black, Chief Executive, Business Council of Australia. “By investing in technologies like AI, we are strengthening our global competitiveness, driving innovation, and creating new opportunities for Australians.”
“Salesforce is a force-multiplier for Australian innovation. This investment recognises Australia’s potential and will supercharge our ability to effectively use artificial intelligence to generate greater economic opportunity,” said April Palmerlee, Chief Executive Officer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham).
Investing in AI innovation in Australia
Salesforce first established its presence in Australia in 2004, and now has over 2,400 employees along with thousands more in its ecosystem of partners supporting its customer base.
According to research by IDC, Salesforce and its ecosystem of customers and partners in Australia are projected to generate over 245,000 jobs and over $46 billion in business revenues by 2028.*
In Australia, Salesforce Venture’s investments exceed $12 billion in market cap, including notable AI investments like Airwallex, GO1, Culture Amp, Reejig, and Q-Ctrl.
Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce’s venture capital arm, has invested over $6 billion in more than 630 companies globally, helping to fuel innovation across AI and enterprise technology. In Australia, the firm’s investments exceed $12 billion in market cap, including notable AI investments like Airwallex, GO1, Culture Amp, Reejig, and Q-Ctrl.
Industry leaders such as Telstra, Flight Centre, Canva, Scape, and hipages are using Salesforce’s AI technologies to improve productivity and enhance customer experiences.
To support business leaders to navigate the AI revolution and transform their businesses, Salesforce has welcomed experienced listed company non-executive director Anne Templeman-Jones as the first Australian member of its Global Advisory Board.
These investments support the Government’s National AI Capability Plan, which seeks to expand local AI capabilities and help promote economic and productivity growth.
Workforce development
During its 21 years in Australia, Salesforce has collaborated with government, universities, vocational education and training providers, partners, and not-for-profit organisations to launch reskilling and training programs.
Leveraging Trailhead, Salesforce’s free training platform, these initiatives equip individuals with the in-demand skills essential for thriving careers in the digital economy.
A new roadshow of Agentforce Learning Days and Hackathons in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane will help the employees of over 270 companies learn how to build and deploy AI agents.
Salesforce also supports the Deloitte Digital Career Compass program and the FW Jobs Academy, both designed to empower women and diverse communities to learn in-demand Salesforce AI skills.
Continued investment in workforce development is critical to unlocking Australia’s talent potential and positioning the country as a global leader in the AI economy. These initiatives will contribute towards the government’s goal of achieving 1.2 million tech jobs by 2030.
Sustainability initiatives
Salesforce also announced today $1.2 million in grants to Arbor Day Foundation and New Energy Nexus to support reforestation and clean energy ecopreneurship across the globe and in Australia.
This investment complements existing reforestation initiatives in Australia, including Salesforce’s work with Greenfleet to plant over 30,000 native trees on formerly degraded farmland.
In 2020, Salesforce entered into its first international renewable energy agreement with X-ELIO’s Blue Grass Solar farm to save 320,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year and power its local operations.
Salesforce Tower Sydney has the city’s first-ever WELL core and Shell Platinum pre-certification, the highest obtainable pre-certification, and will achieve a 6 Star Green Star Design and As-Built rating, representing world excellence in sustainable design.
More information:
- Read more Agentforce World Tour Sydney news here
- Learn more about Agentforce
- Find out more about Salesforce Ventures
- Learn more about Salesforce Sustainability
*IDC Infographic – Country Addendum, sponsored by Salesforce, The Australia Salesforce Economy: Fueled by AI-Powered Cloud Solutions, doc #US51541723, January 2024
About Salesforce
Salesforce helps organizations of any size reimagine their business with AI. Agentforce — the first digital labor solution for enterprises — seamlessly integrates with Customer 360 applications, Data Cloud, and Einstein AI to create a limitless workforce, bringing humans and agents together to deliver customer success on a single, trusted platform.
