In a world where customer experience is everything, clients are exploring more ways to reach their audience. MessageBird, a software company dedicated to helping companies navigate the omnichannel landscape, is taking advantage of this evolving trend.
MessageBird’s founder, Robert Vis, said that there’s been an incredible transformation in enterprise communications. Companies are moving away from basic calls and emails to begin exploring apps and other tools. A world full of things like Airbnb and Uber is driving us into the future.
According to Vis, after a decade of growth, MessageBird feels ready to IPO.
This will be a bold move for the communications company, has few businesses have been brave enough to hit the stock market since the COVID-19 pandemic altered the economy. EU companies have raised about $5.8 billion during 2020, which is a decrease of 35% from 2019.
Preparing for the Stock Market
MessageBird would be following Twilio, its US competitor into the market. The company had a value of $1.23 billion when it listed 4 years ago. Now, Twilio is worth $30 billion. Twilio’s share price also doubled during COVID due to an increased demand for digital communication products.
As more companies depend on online services to remain connected to customers, like Zoom and WhatsApp, many companies are seeing the benefits. Gartner, the leading analytics company, published a report in August. According to Gartner, the communication platform as a service market, or CPaaS, is in a “gold rush”.
Companies like Twilio and MessageBird give companies in the midst of digital transformation more freedom. Businesses can add a couple of lines of code to a website or app, and access real-time conversational features. Customers can email, text, or call to access support teams. The tools are convenient and easy-to-use for end-users too.
MessageBird is also ensuring that no matter which platform companies use, business customers don’t need to repeat their security phrases or explain inquiries to various agents several times. This leads to better customer experience overall. The solution works directly with mobile phone carriers, and it helps companies to equip themselves for sending 2-factor authentication codes.
Additionally, companies can also access features like one-time passwords for security to prevent fraud and other issues.
Transforming the New Market
According to Vis, succeeding in the new marketplace isn’t the same as just being active on WhatsApp and using other tools. The tough part for most organisations is figuring out how to integrate everything into the same workflow.
There’s also the question of how to shift expensive legacy channels from one platform to another. From an agent perspective, integrations with products from Slack and Salesforce mean that businesses can acquire new customers, answer questions, and more, without leaving the software offered by MessageBird.
Moves from companies like Google and Facebook to blend in and expand messaging and payment products also increases the opportunities available for companies like MessageBird, according to Vis.
When Vis founded MessageBird in 2011, he sold his financial business to access the initial funding. The company now has 350 employees spread over 21 cities, and various offices in Sydney, Singapore, and San Francisco.
Currently, the company isn’t profitable, and it’s expecting losses to be somewhere in the low millions for 2020. However, Vis said that he has been overly cautious as a bootstrapped founder up to now. MessageBird’s constant growth year after year highlight’s the company’s health.
With absolutely no outside funding or investment, the company grow to a 100 million euro value. Since then, the MessageBird brand has also generated around $100 million in investment from venture capital companies too.
The Next Step in Growth
Located in the Netherlands, MessageBird has a unique advantage over some of the companies in its industry. Vis believes that in the Netherlands, companies need to be global from day one, because the country is so small. This means MessageBird has always focused on the world, not just one place.
The company uses AI to translate messages in various languages and let people pay in their local currencies. According to Vis, everyone wants to live in a world where messaging comes first. It’s a more efficient and simple way to communicate with businesses. MessageBird has the keys to that new world of communication.
