Messagebird’s U.S. Success Story
How this SMB from Netherlands in the Telecommunications industry made it in the U.S.A
Country Of Origin Netherlands
U.S. HQ. San Francisco, USA
Industry Telecommunications
Year Founded 2011
Number Of Employees About 180
Annual revenue $90M
About Messagebird
MessageBird is a Dutch telecommunications company that focuses on modernizing and simplifying the overcomplicated space of customer communication. Presently, it is one of the leading cloud communications platforms with its telecommunication carrier infrastructure. Notably, the company connects over fifteen thousand enterprises to their global customers via the fastest and most reliable SMS, voice, and Chat APIs in the world. Currently, an excellent team of over 20 nationalities operates MessageBird. The company has offices in Amsterdam, London, Hamburg, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, and Shanghai.
Formation and Expansion to the USA
The company formed in 2011 after experiencing firsthand how poor the quality of service of most communication providers was at that time. That is according to Robert Vis, the company CEO, and founder. He noted that the company needed a quick and reliable way to verify users via SMS in over 50 countries. His previous company, Zaypay, had penetrated into these countries. He noted that messages were getting to the recipient too late or at some instance would not reach at all. Zaypay provided an API to pay for virtual goods by charging them to a customer’s phone bill. Nonetheless, the lack of quality let to a direct financial loss for customers. Therefore, Robert initiated the formation of MessageBird to get things done in the right way.
During the formation of the company, the MessageBird systems were integrated with the Dutch-based carrier KPN. In mid-2010, the company launched the first messaging product. The company’s connectivity was so fast and cheaper than any of its competitors in the market. Due to the growth in capacity of the company, Robert sold Zaypay and founded MessageBird. Since then, the company has built out the most extensive global direct-to-carrier network in the world. Now, the company supports enterprise-level communication needs; all built on APIs that developers love.
The company has since then wanted to expand into the US market. In line with the US expansion plan, the company developed direct connections with local operators. However, the local networks in the United States tabled severe restrictions on what types of message and the volume that is allowed. The platform was set up to adhere to these restrictions in the best way possible, based on official guidelines provided by the carriers. Robert notes that the company is in contract with large enterprises that cannot afford to have their communication compromised.
During the US expansion, the company enhanced its platform to provide a secure, fast, and cost-effective way for enterprises to build their communication tools. Even so, each carrier works differently, and every country has different regulations. The company ensures that clients’ messages and voice calls get through this web of rules and regulations reliably. Customers in the US market have to ping the MessageBird API, and the result is magical; a message pops up, or a phone starts ringing in seconds. That message has the potential to reach over 7 billion people worldwide.
In the US market, Twilio is MessageBird’s main competitor. Twilio was founded in 2008 and was later listed on the New York Stock Exchange. As of now, MessageBird has offered a chat API for integrating messaging services such as Telegram, Messenger, WeChat, and Line. The MessageBird messaging API also powers SMS-based in-app communications. Also, the company is working on a video API that is currently in the final stages of beta testing.
Financing the US Expansion
In October 2017, MessageBird pronounced a $60M Series A funding led by Accel in the US. The funding series saw Accel being joined by Atomico in the UK and Y Combinator. Remarkably, this was the largest funding series by any European software company or Y Combinator graduate to date. The biggest overall Series A round was in Powa at $76 million (£52.5 million), but MessageBird spectacularly went bust. The primary aim of the new funding was to help the company grow more quickly and expand to other markets. Accel partner, Miles Clements, and Atomico partner, Hiro Tamura joined the startup’s board for the implementation of US expansion plan.
Recently, MessageBird stated that it already counts 15,000 customers globally. That includes DoorDash, SAP, Huawei, Amber Alert, and Heineken. Besides, the company claims it has been profitable since its inception and said that it is on course to hit a $100 million revenue run rate.