Amsterdam-based cloud communication company Messagebird has acquired Pusher, the UK software firm, in a deal worth $35M (approx €29M). This move comes two months after MessageBird’s €169.8M Series C funding round, valuing the company at €2.5B. It marks the next milestone for the Dutch unicorn, on its path to an IPO.
“Bringing Pusher into the MessageBird family means it will be even easier for the 15,000 companies that rely on us to meet and communicate with their customers through messaging in whatever channel they prefer,“ says Robert Vis, Founder & CEO, MessageBird.
About Pusher
Based out of London, Pusher provides a hosted API service for developers to create interactive features such as in-app notifications, activity streams, chat, real-time dashboards, and multi-user collaborative apps.
“We create and maintain complex infrastructure so that developers can build the real-time features their users need quickly and focus on the user experience,” explains Pusher’s CEO Max Williams.
Founded by Damien Tanner, and Max Williams, the UK company has 250,000 developer customers across 170 countries. Notably, Pusher will continue to operate as a standalone product and support its existing customers. As per the company’s claims, it has delivered over 18 trillion messages across thousands of apps for its customers.
How will it benefit MessageBird?
With this acquisition, Twilio’s European rival will get a host of new tools and features that will help MessageBird’s customers talk to their customers in even more ways than before. Pusher’s real-time platform of APIs and SDKs will be integrated to become MessageBird Pusher, allowing new features like in-app messaging, push notifications, and location tracking.
Moreover, Pusher’s team of 25 people will now become part of the growing MessageBird family, and its customer base – which includes GitHub, MailChimp, CodeShip and The Financial Times – will join the likes of Deliveroo, Lufthansa Airlines, Heineken, Hugo Boss, Rituals Cosmetics and SAP, who are MessageBird users.
Customer communication made easy
MessageBird, founded by Adriaan Mol, and Robert Vis, is a cloud communications platform that connects enterprises to their global customers. So far, the company has raised over $300M (approx €245M) in funding to date.
Right now, the company is in the pursuit to boost its product portfolio on the road to IPO. Earlier this year, MessageBird launched Inbox.ai, which enables customers to communicate with businesses practically through any channel of their choosing including – WhatsApp, SMS, Voice, Messenger, Instagram, WeChat, RCS, Line, and Telegram.
The company’s product line also includes a Chat Widget and Flow Builder. The Chat Widget helps convert static pages into dynamic conversations. Whereas, the 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 has offices in Amsterdam, San Francisco, Singapore, Bogota, London, Shanghai, Dublin, Hamburg, and Sydney.