Seismic and Highspot Merge as Sales Enablement Market Consolidates Under AI Pressure

Seismic and Highspot Merge as Sales Enablement Market Consolidates Under AI Pressure

Seismic and Highspot, two of the largest sales enablement software providers, announced a definitive merger agreement on February 12, 2026, in a deal that signals intensifying consolidation pressures in a category struggling to prove ROI amid the AI transformation of revenue operations.

The combined company will operate under the Seismic name and be led by Seismic CEO Rob Tarkoff. Robert Wahbe, founder and CEO of Highspot, will join the board of directors. Permira, which has backed Seismic through funds it advises since 2020, will remain the controlling shareholder after the deal closes.

For CFOs evaluating their go-to-market technology stacks, the merger reflects a broader reckoning in the enablement software market. What began as sales-focused content management platforms—offering core capabilities like content management, readiness training, workflow guidance, and analytics—has evolved into what analysts now call "revenue enablement," requiring coordination across marketing, sales, customer success, and business development teams.

That evolution has created a measurement problem. The effectiveness of these platforms depends heavily on whether teams actually use the features properly and consistently—a challenge that makes demonstrating clear ROI difficult. In large, global organizations, the complexity multiplies: enablement platforms must navigate local governance requirements and handle multilingual, multicultural content needs.

Integration challenges compound the ROI question. These platforms need to connect with numerous other tools in the revenue technology stack, creating implementation and maintenance overhead that finance leaders scrutinize closely.

The merger comes as the category faces what the companies describe as a shift from "the era of sales enablement" to "AI-driven revenue enablement that brings GTM teams together." That framing suggests both vendors see AI capabilities as essential to future competitiveness—and potentially as a way to address the persistent usage and adoption challenges that have made finance teams skeptical of enablement platform investments.

The deal also reflects broader consolidation dynamics in marketing and sales technology, where overlapping capabilities and integration complexity have created pressure for vendors to combine forces. For finance leaders, the merger raises familiar questions about product roadmaps, contract terms, and whether consolidation will lead to better integration or simply reduced competition.

What remains unclear is whether combining two platforms with similar core capabilities will solve the fundamental challenge: getting revenue teams to consistently use the tools in ways that generate measurable business impact. That's the ROI question that will determine whether this merger creates value or simply produces a larger vendor with the same adoption problems.