Media group Bonnier participated in a $200m series C round for Netherlands-based cloud communications platform developer MessageBird yesterday that valued the latter at $3bn.
Venture capital firm Spark Capital led the round, which included Glynn Capital, LGT Lightstone, Longbow, Mousse Partners, Accel, Atomico, Y Combinator and New View Capital. Will Reed, general partner at Spark Capital, will take a board seat at the company.
MessageBird has created an enterprise cloud communication platform that enables businesses to communicate with customers across a variety of online channels including WhatsApp and customer service software platform Live Chat, using methods such as automated customer service tools.
The funding will be allocated to a growth drive across Europe, Asia and Latin America that will be supported by a planned tripling of the company’s global workforce.
Robert Vis, founder and CEO of MessageBird, said: “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.
“This latest round is validation that there is pent up demand from customers all over the world who also want traditional businesses to move into this brave new messaging-first omnichannel world and we have the leading product on the market to help them do just that.”
The company took part in Y Combinator’s accelerator in 2016 and secured $60m in series A funding from investors including Accel and Atomico the following year. It subsequently added an unannounced $40m from existing backers in February 2019, TechCrunch reported this week.
