Google has agreed to acquire business intelligence, data, and analytics platform Looker for $2.6bn in an all-cash transaction, as it looks to strengthen its cloud business.

Following the close of the acquisition, which is expected to be later this year, Looker will join Google Cloud, marking the first acquisition the division has made since former Oracle executive Thomas Kurian joined it as CEO in November.

“The combination of Google Cloud and Looker will enable customers to harness data in new ways to drive their digital transformation,” said Kurian. “We remain committed to our multi-cloud strategy and will retain and expand Looker’s capabilities to analyse data across Clouds.”

Google will use the purchase – Alphabet’s biggest since it bought Nest for $3.2bn in 2014 – to provide customers with ‘more comprehensive’ data analytics using technologies such as machine learning and AI.

The pair already have a partnership in place which sees them share more than 350 customers, including the likes of BuzzFeed, Hearst, King, Sunrun, WPP Essence, and Yahoo.

“Now, we’ll have greater reach, more resources, and the brightest minds in both Analytics and Cloud Infrastructure working together to build an exciting path forward for our customers and partners,” said Frank Bien, Looker CEO. “Together, we are reinventing what it means to solve business problems with data at an entirely different scale and value point.”