Founded in 2015, New York-headquartered Kustomer is a software-as-a-service platform that collates customer conversations from multiple sources into one view and allows businesses to automate repetitive tasks.

The move will allow Facebook to offer businesses customer service tools, with people increasingly contacting businesses via its messaging service, WhatsApp.

In a post announcing the planned acquisition, Dan Levy, vice-president of ads and business products, and Matt Idema, chief operating officer at WhatsApp, said Facebook wants to “give businesses access to best-in-class tools that deliver excellent service and support”.

They added: “Kustomer is one of many solutions in this arena, and we’ll continue to support the numerous options that businesses have to integrate their CRM platform of choice with our messaging services.”

Kustomers’ businesses will continue to own the data that originates from interactions with their customers, but Facebook said it expects it will eventually host Kustomer data on its own infrastructure.

The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, said the deal would value Kustomer at $1bn.

The transaction is subject to closing conditions and regulatory approval.