• by Ray Schultz , February 1, 2019

Twilio has completed its acquisition of SendGrid, the provider of an email API platform, in a transaction valued at roughly $3 billion.

The purchase -- approved on Wednesday by the stockholders of both companies -- provides Twilio with an email capability, enabling it to “provide a complete platform for every form of customer engagement,” states Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO of Twilio.

Twilio’s platform also helps firms navigate voice, messaging, SMS and video.

Shares of SendGrid common stock ceased trading prior to the opening of the market on Friday. The company will no longer be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

SendGrid shareholders receive $53.99 of aggregate value per share of common stock — higher than the $36.92 share value and $2 billion price stated when the purchase was announced last October.

SendGrid, operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of Twilio, will continue to be led by its CEO Sameer Dholakia, who will report to Lawson.

The combined firms serve over 140,000 customers, powering over 600 billion interactions per year.

Both firms have a “developer-first approach,” Lawson adds.

The transaction drew approval from clients such as real estate platform Zillow Group.

“Purchasing a home is one of the most important decisions that a person will make in their lifetime; therefore, our customers expect to communicate with our realtors in a timely and personalized manner whether it be via phone, text or email,” states Matthew Daimler, VP of strategic initiatives at Zillow Group.

When filing its IPO in 2017, SendGrid said it hoped to raise $112 million on a stock price ranging from $13.50 to $15.60.

According to that filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SendGrid provides three basic services: Email API, introduced in 2009; Marketing Campaigns, launched in 2015; and Expert Services, fielded in 2016.

The majority of its revenue growth has been derived from the Email API service, which “allows developers to use our API in their preferred development framework to leverage our platform to add email functionality to their applications within minutes,” the filing states.

The Denver Post observed in 2017 that SendGrid is “one of the rare Colorado tech companies to make it to the initial public offering stage in years.”