Sitecore Acquires Scrunch to Boost AI Search Visibility

The Gist

• AI search visibility. Sitecore acquired Scrunch to improve brand presence in AI-driven search.
• Content optimization. Combined platforms provide actionable insights to manage brand content across channels.
• Marketer impact. Marketing leaders gain tools to influence how brands appear in AI answers, helping drive engagement and conversions.

Sitecore announced on June 3 that it acquired Scrunch, an AI customer experience platform that helps brands understand and improve how they appear in AI search results. The deal pairs Scrunch's Agent Experience Platform (AXP) with Sitecore's AI-powered digital experience platform (DXP). Bloomberg reported the deal valued at $225 million.

The move responds to the growing dominance of large language models in buyer research. According to Sitecore, brands need scalable ways to see where they appear in AI answers and to correct what AI is missing or misrepresenting.

Sitecore said the combined platform aims to publish content across channels with brand integrity, lift traffic, improve conversion and let organizations measure performance. Customer case studies cited by the company showed Akamai achieved a 364% increase in brand presence for non-branded prompts and a 218% increase in citations using AXP-enabled pages. Runpod reported a 400% increase in paying customers tied to AI search optimization efforts. 

Table of Contents

• AI Perceptions Shape Your Brand, Sitecore Says
• Combined Sitecore-Scrunch Platform Capabilities
• Entering the AI Buyer Era
• Sitecore's Momentum: New CEO, New AI
• Sitecore Background

AI Perceptions Shape Your Brand, Sitecore Says

According to the companies' joint press release, the core problem the acquisition addresses is that AI systems now shape brand perception before buyers ever reach a website — determining which offerings appear in answers, which competitors get mentioned, and which sources get cited. Most enterprises already have the content AI needs: product information, expert articles, customer proof, documentation and brand messaging.

The challenge is that this material is often fragmented, outdated or formatted in ways AI systems cannot easily access or interpret. Scrunch's platform surfaces exactly where a brand is appearing, missing or being misrepresented across large language models including ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Perplexity, then generates specific recommendations teams can act on to close those gaps.

The acquisition adds a second layer beyond visibility. Scrunch's Agent Experience Platform reformats existing content so AI agents can read and use it accurately, without altering the experience built for human visitors. Those insights then feed directly into Sitecore's content management, content marketing and digital asset management workflows, allowing teams to move from diagnosis to execution without switching platforms.

Sitecore described the combined offering as moving brands from standalone Answer Engine Optimization — which identifies where a brand wins or loses in AI answers — to a continuous content optimization loop that connects discovery data to the content, experience and workflow infrastructure marketers already use.

Combined Sitecore-Scrunch Platform Capabilities

The acquisition integrates Scrunch's AXP with Sitecore's DXP, according to the company.

Entering the AI Buyer Era

The announcement drew immediate response from executives inside both companies and analysts watching the market.

AI Has Changed Where Buyers Form Opinions — Before the First Click

In an email to customers announcing the deal, Sitecore CEO Eric Stine framed the acquisition as a direct response to a shift already underway in how buyers behave. Stine said buyers are going beyond Google and now consulting large language models such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini about categories, competitors and brands before they ever reach a company's website, with lasting impressions being shaped before the first click.

He argued that most enterprise customers have already built the raw material AI needs — product information, expert content, domain authority, customer proof and brand messaging — but that the critical question is whether AI can find the best of it, trust it and use it accurately when buyers are making decisions.

Stine described the combined platform as a path from insight to action. Scrunch, he said, provides visibility into where a brand appears in AI answers, where its message is missing or misrepresented and what steps can improve its position. Sitecore then connects those findings to the content, experiences and workflows customers already use.

"The goal is simple," Stine wrote. "Help more buyers find, trust and choose you."

The Founding Bet: AI Agents, Not Humans, Would Become the Primary Website Visitor

Chris Andrew, chief executive and co-founder of Scrunch, traced the company's founding premise back two years to a bet he and co-founder Robert MacCloy made: that the most important visitor to a website would eventually not be a person, but an AI agent acting on a person's behalf. Andrew described that premise as now defining the default buyer journey, with AI researching products, comparing vendors and forming recommendations long before a buyer reaches a homepage.

He positioned Sitecore as the right acquirer because visibility into AI answers is only a starting point — brands also need the content infrastructure to turn that insight into action. Andrew said the acquisition accelerates Scrunch's product roadmap rather than redirecting it.

From Visibility Dashboard to Content Operating Loop

Mo Cherif, Sitecore's Vice President of AI and Innovation, pointed to a fundamental change in the customer journey as the strategic rationale behind the deal. Buyers, he said, now ask AI for answers, comparisons and vendor recommendations before making a first click, meaning brand decisions are being shaped upstream of any direct engagement.

Cherif framed the combined platform as a move from passive monitoring to active management: Scrunch surfaces where a brand is missing or misunderstood in AI-generated answers, while Sitecore provides the content and workflow infrastructure to act on those findings.

"If machines cannot understand you, humans may never find you," he wrote.

The Website Is More Important Than Ever — But Its Primary Audience Has Changed

Jaden Hopp, an engagement manager at Scrunch, echoed the company's founding rationale from a practitioner perspective. Scrunch was built, he said, on the premise that the most important visitor to a website would increasingly be a machine acting on behalf of a human — a premise that has become standard in how buyers research and decide.

Hopp noted that while AI is now the default layer for discovery, the website itself remains more important than ever as the source from which AI systems draw their understanding of a brand. The acquisition, in his framing, gives brands the tools to serve both audiences simultaneously: the humans who eventually arrive, and the AI agents that shape whether they do.

Brands That Ignore AI Discovery Risk Becoming Invisible Before the Conversation Starts

James Gray, Digital Strategy Director at Horizontal, a Sitecore partner, argued that the acquisition signals a deeper structural shift in how brands get discovered. Gray questioned whether marketers fully grasp that AI systems now act as gatekeepers of brand perception, shaping buyer decisions before a prospect ever visits a website.

In his view, the deal matters less as a product announcement and more as a response to a new reality: brands that are not deliberately optimizing for AI answers risk being misrepresented or invisible in the moments that matter most.

Sitecore Acquisitions Timeline

Editor's note: Sitecore has expanded its digital experience portfolio through a series of acquisitions spanning content management, commerce, customer data, personalization, marketing automation and AI search optimization.

Sitecore's Momentum: New CEO, New AI

Sitecore's past year has been defined by a strategic reset, beginning with the replacement of CEO Dave O'Flanagan by Eric Stine in May 2025 and the divestiture of Sitecore Send to Constant Contact. The centerpiece arrived at Symposium 2025 with the launch of SitecoreAI, repositioning XM Cloud into a composable SaaS platform featuring Agentic Studio with 20 AI-powered agents, AI-enabled migration pathways and Sitecore Studio. A commissioned Forrester TEI study reported a 371% ROI over three years for XM Cloud customers, and Sitecore earned a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader designation for Content Marketing Platforms heading into 2026.

According to the 2025 SMG Digital Experience Platform Market Guide, Sitecore's AI capabilities span generative AI for ideation, content creation, personalization and predictive search, with full OpenAI integration across a portfolio that includes XM Cloud, Content Hub, OrderCloud, Personalize, CDP and Stream.

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Sitecore Background

Founded in 2001, Sitecore serves marketing leaders, digital experience managers and enterprise IT teams in mid-market and large enterprises seeking to deliver personalized, omnichannel digital experiences. The company offers a composable DXP integrating content management, digital asset management, personalization and campaign orchestration.

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