Services/PR & Communications/News/ MessageBird acquires Pusher in $35m deal The platform wants to create a "messaging-first world" and sees the deal as part of that By Freya Pratty 16 December 2020 Robert Vis, Messagebird Robert Vis, Messagebird \Services Founders, your Medium posts are rubbish. You can do better. By Oleg Volkov 10 September 2021 Services/PR & Communications/News/ MessageBird acquires Pusher in $35m deal The platform wants to create a "messaging-first world" and sees the deal as part of that By Freya Pratty 16 December 2020 Cloud communications platform MessageBird has acquired real time notifications company Pusher, in a move to broaden the communications channels it can offer to customers and continue its path to IPO. The deal, which sees Amsterdam-based MessageBird acquire London-based Pusher for $35m, comes two months after MessageBird raised a $200m Series C round, increasing its valuation to $3bn. “We’re focused on creating a messaging-first world,” says Robert Vis, the founder and CEO of MessageBird. The company’s existing infrastructure helps companies communicate with customers across multiple channels — including WhatsApp, SMS, WeChat and Telegram — and it’s currently used by 15,000 companies. Pusher delivers real time notifications, such as those used by news outlets to deliver breaking news alerts, as well as providing location tracking software. Its current clients include GitHub, MailChimp, CodeShip and The Financial Times. “Together we have an even better proposition for our customers,” says Vis. “Notifications can be done with Pusher and then customer support requests can be done by MessageBird.” Coronavirus has speeded up the necessity of companies having efficient messaging systems, he says. “Now it’s a topic in the boardroom of every company — how do we attract and retain customers in a digital world where physical meetings might not be possible. And that all boils down to interacting with customers in the most efficient way.” To do so, a lot of companies are also looking to use one single tool for their communications, something that Vis says has played into the acquisition strategy pursued by MessageBird. “There’s a macrotrend towards communications infrastructure — people don’t want loads of tools for different things, they want one tool that does everything they need.” It was reported in June that MessageBird is preparing an IPO and the bolstering of its portfolio through acquisitions is seen as part of preparations for that. Vis remains tight lipped on the plans, but acquisitions will remain part of its strategy, he says. “We’re looking for great teams and great people to come and help us out.” Freya Pratty covers news at Sifted. She tweets from @FPratty Related Articles Needed: older female employees By Kristina Nilsson Click here to read more PR for startups: 6 tips to attract attention for your business By Maija Palmer Click here to read more Why your startup story matters By Mimi Billing Click here to read more How startups can get the most from a PR agency By Max Tatton-Brown Click here to read more Most Read 1 \Deeptech ‘We are super, super fucked’: Meet the man trying to stop an AI apocalypse 2 \Deeptech The real value of large language models like GPT-4 isn’t in writing, it’s reading 3 \Venture Capital Gloria Bäuerlein closes one of Europe’s first female solo GP funds 4 \Venture Capital 12 UK soonicorns to watch 5 \Fintech Channel 4-backed fintech shuts down, searches for buyer
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