• by Ray Schultz , May 17, 2021

Twilio, which believes that texting is a growing communications medium, has signed a deal to acquire texting company Zipwhip for roughly $850 million. The sum will be paid in equal amounts of cash and stock. 

Zipwhip will join Twilio’s Messaging Business unit when the deal closes. The closing is expected to happen by the end of this year. 

“Messaging is becoming a preferred way for consumers to engage with brands, therefore it’s critical to provide multiple messaging options,” states Simon Khalaf, senior vice president and general manager of the Twilio Communications Platform, in explaining the deal. 

The combined companies will provide marketers with "the ability to deliver more secure, high-quality toll-free traffic at scale," Khalaf continues. 

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC was financial advisor and Cooley LLP was legal counsel to Zipwhip. Fenwick & West LLP served as Twilio’s legal counsel. 

Zipwhip was started "a decade ago in typical founder-story fashion, in my basement in Seattle," writes  Zipwhip CEO and founder John Lauer in a blog post. "My cofounders and I knew that texting was the future, and that it wasn’t being utilized to its full potential."

Lauer adds that his team is "laser focused on promoting and expanding the toll-free, VoIP and landline texting channels in the U.S., and with the most direct carrier connections of any provider."

Zipwhip has over 250 employees in Seattle.

The deal is smaller than some recent Twilio transactions. 

In 2019, Twilio acquired SendGrid for roughly $3 billion, providing it with an email platform. Last year, it purchased Segment, a customer data platform, for $3.2 billion.