For the third year in a row, Salesforce has risen up the ranks of the Fortune 500—the official list of the largest corporations in the United States by revenue. This year, we reached #326, up from #386 in 2016.
This is an incredible achievement for a company that started just 18 years ago in an apartment in San Francisco. With $10 billion in annual revenue in our sights by the end of our current fiscal year, Salesforce is growing at a tremendous pace and gaining share in the fastest-growing category of enterprise software.
Companies in every segment, industry and country are all undergoing digital transformations, and their customers are at heart of this revolution. Our rise in the ranks of the Fortune 500 is a testament to the fact that these companies are turning to Salesforce to provide the best technology, vision and experiences for their customers.
Of course, we continue to invest in our customers’ success. Artificial intelligence has the potential to make employees smarter, faster and more productive, which is why more than two years ago we began an organic effort to build Einstein, the world’s first comprehensive AI for CRM. We supplemented that effort with targeted acquisitions, including MetaMind for deep learning and Implisit for predictive sales. Today, Einstein's AI capabilities are available to every Salesforce user across sales, service, marketing, commerce and more.
Salesforce is also investing in infrastructure to support our customers in key markets around the world. For example, in Australia, we announced an infrastructure expansion in March with Amazon Web Services. And in April, we opened our second data center in Japan.
We’re also speaking in the language of the customer by building products, partnerships and overall expertise across key industries, such as comms & media, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, public sector, retail and more. Every one of these industries has an incredible opportunity to digitally transform to meet the needs of their customers.
Salesforce is a growth company, and our rising profile within the Fortune 500 is proof that our investments on behalf of customers is paying off. Congratulations to the more than 26,000 employees that make Salesforce the global leader in CRM everyday!