MILAN- Salesforce is investing in Brunello Cucinelli’s AI platform.
Cucinelli launched Solomei AI, the company behind the brand’s Callimacus platform, in 2024 and on Monday Salesforce and the Italian designer revealed they had entered into an agreement that will allow Callimacus to expand its engineering and AI research capabilities and accelerate commercial growth across Europe and North America.
“It is with a certain pride and with genuine satisfaction that I present a project that opens up extraordinary possibilities for technology in the years to come,” said Cucinelli, chairman of Solomei AI. “Three years ago, Marc Benioff and I began an endeavor with mathematicians, philosophers, humanists, and technologists, from which Callimacus was born. Our idea was to create a simple, intuitive product capable of speaking the language of human beings; a sort of new web, without pages, categories, or predetermined paths, able to accompany the intent of each individual navigator. I look with great confidence and hope for the path that Callimacus will pursue with Salesforce’s investment. There are numerous applications that Callimacus may have across many sectors worldwide and it is an honour for me to invite our clients to discover the freedom to learn, to choose, and to act within our digital lives.”
In January, Cucinelli unveiled the brand’s new e-commerce platform underpinned by AI, an evolution of the site launched in 2024 and developed by Solomei AI, a small research center created at Cucinelli’s headquarters to explore the creative, scientific and technological applications of AI.
The concept of Callimacus is that there are no conventional pages, through a system that understands and follows the intention of the user for a personalized experience. At the time, Cucinelli touted the potential of Callimacus, named after the Greek scholar and poet, praised by the entrepreneur and designer also for his role of cataloguing and safeguarding the vast collection of the great Library of Alexandria.
Callimacus uses an orchestra of AI agents to understand each visitor’s intent and compose a personalized experience in real time, integrating traditional digital and e-commerce systems. The company is patenting the technology behind its real-time experience generation.
“Brunello has always believed that technology should elevate humanity, and that conviction is at the heart of Callimacus,” said Benioff, chair and chief executive officer of Salesforce. “The team has developed an innovative platform that reimagines AI-powered experiences—bringing together conversational AI, enterprise context, and real-time personalization to create entirely new ways for businesses to engage with their customers. We’re proud to partner with Brunello and the Solomei AI team as they pioneer a new generation of AI-powered experiences.”
Brunello Cucinelli at Dreamforce 2017, with Salesforce ceo Marc Benioff.
Adriana Lee
Salesforce will join the founders and seed shareholders, including Foro delle Arti S.p.A., the Cucinelli family holding company.
Cucinelli has not only built a business selling his luxury collections to Silicon Valley leaders, but also a network of personal relationships nurtured over the course of several years, with the likes Benioff and Jeff Bezos, centered around the common goal of “humanizing technology, sharing questions about eternity and leaving a mark on earth.”
It all dates back to 2016 when Benioff and Instagram cofounder Kevin Systrom invited Cucinelli to a dinner in San Francisco, asking him to talk about his humanistic vision. In the two following years, Benioff asked Cucinelli to be a guest at Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual tech conference in San Francisco. This also led to the Universal Symposiums on Soul and Economics hosted by Cucinelli at his restored Italian hamlet of Solomeo to discuss humanistic values and digital ethics, drawing the likes of Benioff, LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Kevin Scott, chief technology officer of Microsoft, among others.
The transaction falls within the scope of Italy’s “golden power” regulation, which applies to technology assets deemed to be of strategic national importance. The closing of the transaction is contingent on authorization by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (Department for Administrative Coordination), as well as other closing conditions.
