While some sectors suffered, many others found a new opportunity with the pandemic. Medtech, online services, SaaS, edtech are among such sectors that are doing rather well during this pandemic, as people flock to use systems enabling minimal human contact and remote working options. The Netherlands-based cloud communication platform MessageBird offers a suite of options that helps businesses stay on top of customer service. The company has now raised a notable €169.8M and has been valued at €2.5B.
Raising investments remotely
The latest Series C funding round for the company happened remotely, which is not too surprising considering the current effects of the pandemic. The round was led by Silicon Valley’s Spark Capital, with participation from Bonnier, Glynn Capital, LGT Lightstone, Longbow, Mousse Partners and New View Capital. This investment also enables Spark Capital General Partner, Will Reed, to join MessageBird’s board. Existing investors Accel, Atomico, and Y-Combinator also participated in this round.
The company says there’s been a surge in the demand for their services, which enable businesses a range of messaging-first customer communication tools. The service enables two-way communication between multiple channels and this is expected to make it easier for businesses to keep up with customer queries as well. After starting out as a simple Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), the startup claims to be the world’s first and only Omnichannel Platform as a Service (OPaaS) company.
The latest funds will be used to add new team members to the MessageBird’s global team, to triple it in size, the company says. Additionally, the startup will expand into its core markets in Europe, Asia and Latin America, as it launches a “Work Anywhere” policy.
“MessageBird has pioneered OPaaS (Omnichannel Platform as a Service) based on the idea that global companies should have zero-friction communication with their customers anywhere in the world and on any channel they prefer,” Robert Vis, MessageBird Founder & CEO, says.
An ‘omnichannel’ experience
Founded in 2011, MessageBird started out as a bootstrapped startup before raising €50.9M in its first funding round, back in 2017. In 2019, it raised €33.9M in Series B funding and expanded on its services. The company offers what it calls an ‘Omnichannel’ solution that is said to unify and track interactions across ‘every’ messaging channel. Instead of keeping tabs on different channels such as SMS, email, voice, messaging apps and more, an enterprise can simply use MessageBird’s service for consolidated information at one place.
The company’s suite of products also offer Inbox, a Chat Widget and a Flow Builder. Inbox is a free omnichannel customer support and engagement software that enables businesses and customers to communicate while sharing media. It works with WhatsApp, SMS, Voice, Messenger, WeChat, Google Business Messaging, Line and Telegram. As mentioned above, it consolidates all the incoming messages into a single customer thread for convenient ticketing and response.
The Chat Widget helps convert static pages into dynamic conversations. Meanwhile Flow Builder is an RPA (Robotic Process Automation) platform that enables auto replies creation and message routing. These services are also available via an API or an Application Programming Interface for easier integration with different platforms.
MessageBird claims to have more than 15,000 customers, from established brands such as Lufthansa Airlines, Heineken, Hugo Boss, Rituals Cosmetics and SAP, as well rapidly-growing disruptors such as Uber, HelloFresh, and Deliveroo. It maintains offices in Amsterdam, San Francisco, Singapore, Bogota, London, Shanghai, Dublin, Hamburg, Theand Sydney.
Image credits: MessageBird
