US-based business texting service Zipwhip landed $51.5m in a series D round on Friday featuring M12, the corporate venturing division of software provider Microsoft.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs led the round through its Private Capital Investing group, while OpenView and Voyager Capital also participated.
Founded in 2007, Zipwhip has developed a platform that enables businesses to send text messages to their customers through existing landlines, internet protocols or toll free phone numbers.
The company has attracted more than 100 enterprise clients to date and supported 3.3 million business phone numbers. The series D round will support the development of new software and expansion of its application programming interface capabilities.
Zipwhip will also recruit additional personnel for its engineering and management teams as well as seek additional partnerships. Matthew Dorr, vice-president of Goldman Sachs’ Private Capital Investing group, will join Zipwhip’s board of directors.
The company has now raised approximately $91m to date, according to press releases and reports. M12, then known as Microsoft Ventures, previously took part in a $22.5m series C round in 2017 that was led by OpenView and also featured Voyager Capital.
M12 also contributed to a $9m series B round in 2016 that also included telecommuncations technology suppliers GCI and Inteliquent and was led by Voyager Capital.