Silicon Valley mobile engagement startup Sendbird is now valued at $1.05 billion after closing a $100 million Series C funding round led by Steadfast Venture Capital, the company said in a Tuesday (April 6) blog post.
Several new investors participated in the round, including Emergence Capital, Softbank Vision Fund and World Innovation Lab, along with previous investors ICONIQ Growth, Tiger Global Management and Meritech Capital.
Sendbird Co-Founder and CEO John S. Kim said topping $1 billion in valuation is a “milestone we are proud of,” adding the startup knows fully that “this is just the next step in a long journey” of changing the landscape of digital communication.
“One of our core values is endless tenacity for customers and this funding will only strengthen our ability to serve our customers and create value for their businesses,” Kim said.
The company will use the new infusion of capital to ramp up product innovation and new partner investments. Sendbird now has 150 million users sending over 2.5 billion messages monthly worldwide.
“We’ve earned the trust of hundreds of customers not just from traditional industries we’ve served since the early days like communities, gaming, dating, and marketplaces, but also many new ones like digital healthcare, education, live streaming, and fintech,” Kim said.
Founded in 2013 by Kim, Brandon Y Jeon, Forest Lee, and Harry Kim, Sendbird helps businesses integrate real-time chat, voice and video channels into their apps to help users connect with each other, and with the brands they love.
“As the largest white-label mobile conversations platform that companies can integrate into their apps and brand experience with just a few lines of code, Sendbird has seen a heavy demand for its products across industries,” per the blog post.
In a 2019 PYMNTS interview, Kim said that although chat isn’t a new concept, mobile connectivity is, and it provides a unique chapter in history as the world interacts in real time at any time. The potential for brands to connect with their users is a powerful tool that is being tapped more.
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