Twilio Inc.
Type of businessPublic
Traded as
Founded2008 (2008) in Seattle, Washington, U.S.[1]
HeadquartersRincon Center
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Founder(s)
  • Jeff Lawson
  • Evan Cooke
  • John Wolthuis
Key people
  • Khozema Shipchandler (CEO)
  • Mark Simms (CTO)
[2]
IndustryCommunications
Products
RevenueIncrease US$3.826 billion (2022)
Operating incomeDecrease −US$1.21 billion (2022)
Net incomeDecrease −US$1.26 billion (2022)
Total assetsDecrease US$12.56 billion (2022)
Total equityDecrease US$10.56 billion (2022)
Employees5,905 (September 30, 2023)
Subsidiaries
URLtwilio.com
ASN394434
[3][2]

Twilio is an American company based in San Francisco, California, which provides programmable communication tools for making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text messages, and performing other communication functions using its web service APIs.

History

Twilio was founded in 2008 by Jeff Lawson, Evan Cooke, and John Wolthuis[4] and was based initially in Seattle, Washington, and San Francisco, California.[5]

On November 20, 2008, the company launched Twilio Voice, an API to make and receive phone calls completely hosted in the cloud.[6] Twilio's text messaging API was released in February 2010,[7] and SMS shortcodes were released in public beta in July 2011.[8]

Twilio raised approximately $103 million in venture capital growth funding. Twilio received its first round of seed funding in March 2009 for an undisclosed amount from Mitch Kapor, The Founders Fund, Dave McClure, David G. Cohen, Chris Sacca, Manu Kumar, from K9 Ventures, and Jeff Fluhr.[9]

Twilio's first A round of funding was led by Union Square Ventures for $3.7 million[4] and its second B round of funding, for $12 million, was led by Bessemer Venture Partners.[10]

Twilio received $17 million in a Series C round in December 2011 from Bessemer Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures.[11]

In July 2013 Twilio received another $70 million from Redpoint Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and Bessemer Venture Partners.[12]

In July 2015, Twilio raised a $130 million Series E from Fidelity, T Rowe Price, Altimeter Capital Management, and Arrowpoint Partners, in addition to Amazon and Salesforce.[13]

Twilio filed for IPO (NYSE: TWLO) and started trading on June 23, 2016, with a 92% increase on the first day.[14]

In March 2020, Twilio announced the appointment of Steve Pugh as Chief Security Officer and Glenn Weinstein as Chief Customer Officer.[15]

On August 4, 2022, an unknown attacker accessed Twilio's internal network through an SMS phishing campaign targeting Twilio's employees. Twilio confirmed the breach three days later, clarifying that it affected only "a limited number" of customer accounts.[16] On August 15, Signal announced that it had been affected by the breach, indicating that the 125 customers affected included at least some enterprise accounts.[17]

In September 2022, Twilio laid off 11% of its workforce to become profitable.[18] In the company announcement, CEO Jeff Lawson claimed decisions of which employees to lay off were made through an "anti-racist/anti-oppression lens".[19][20] The company announced an additional 17% cut in its workforce, nearly 1,500 employees, in February 2023.[21] As a part of restructuring, the company also announced creation of two business units – Twilio Data & Applications and Twilio Communications.[22]

Twilio is known for using platform evangelism to acquire customers.[23] An early example is GroupMe, which was founded in May 2010 at the hackathon of TechCrunch Disrupt and uses Twilio's text messaging product to facilitate group chat.[24] GroupMe raised $10.6 million in venture funding in January 2011.[25]

Following the success of TechCrunch Disrupt, seed accelerator 500 Startups (now 500 Global) announced the Twilio Fund, a $250,000 "micro-fund" to provide seed money to startups using Twilio in September 2010.[26][27]

In January 2024, Twilio founder Jeff Lawson stepped down as CEO and board member and was replaced by Khozema Shipchandler as CEO.[2]

Acquisitions

In February 2015, Twilio acquired Authy, a Y Combinator-backed startup that offers two-factor authentication services to end users, developers and enterprises.[28]

In September 2016, Twilio acquired Tikal Technologies, the development team behind the Kurento WebRTC open-source project, for $8.5 million.[29]

In February 2017, Twilio acquired Beepsend, a Swedish-based SMS messaging provider, for an undisclosed amount.[30]

Twilio announced in September 2018 that they were acquiring Ytica, a Prague, Czech Republic-based speech analytics firm, for an undisclosed amount.[31]

In October 2018 of that same year Twilio announced they were acquiring SendGrid, a Denver, Colorado-based customer communication platform for transactional and marketing email, for $2 billion.[32] In February 2019, the two companies were formally merged in a deal valued at $3 billion.[33]

In November 2018, the company acquired Core Network Dynamics GmbH, a Berlin, Germany-based virtual evolved packet core company.[34]

Twilio announced in July 2020 that they had acquired Electric Imp, an internet of things platform company, for an undisclosed amount.[35] In October of that year, the company acquired Segment, a platform to collect, clean, and activate customer data, for $3.2 billion.[36]

In May 2021, Twilio acquired Ionic Security, a data security platform for $30.2 million,[37][38] and Zipwhip, a toll-free messaging services provider, for $850 million.[39][40]

In January 2022, Twilio announced that they agreed to acquire Boku Identity, Inc. from Boku, Inc. for $32.3 million.[41][42]

Technology

Twilio uses Amazon Web Services to host its communication infrastructure via APIs.[43] Twilio follows specific architectural design principles to protect against unexpected outages and received praise for staying online during the widespread Amazon Web Services outage in April 2011.[44]

Rather than using industry-standard protocols such as SIP for call control, Twilio uses a customized markup language known as TwiML to allow for direct integration with its services.[45] Twilio and the customer typically exchange TwiML documents via HTTP Webhook.

Open-source contributions

Twilio is known to support open source software development. In June 2010, Twilio launched OpenVBX, an open-source product that lets business users configure phone numbers to receive and route phone calls.[46] One month later, Twilio engineer Kyle Conroy released Stashboard, an open-source status dashboard written in the Python programming language that any API or software service can use to display whether their service is functioning properly.[47]

Twilio also sponsors Localtunnel,[48] created by former engineer Jeff Lindsay, which enables software developers to expose their local development environment to the public Internet from behind a NAT.[49]

Twilio lists several other open-source projects on their website, such as:

  • Flask Restful: Python Flask (web framework) to build REST APIs.[50]
  • Shadow: Runs requests through a release candidate with real production traffic.[51]
  • Banker’s Box: Wrapper for storage backend.[52]

See also

References

  1. ↑ John Cook (24 September 2010). "Super angel McClure unveils 'micro-fund' for Twilio apps". Puget Sound Business Journal.
  2. 1 2 3 "Twilio CEO Lawson steps down after bruising activist battles". CNBC. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
  3. ↑ "US SEC: Twilio, Inc. Form 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 27 February 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Twilio Raises $3.7 Million For Powerful Telephony API". TechCrunch. 2009-12-30. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  5. ↑ "Twilio scores funding to build telecom in the cloud business". Techflash.com. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  6. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (November 20, 2008). "Twilio: Powerful API For Phone Services That Can Recreate GrandCentral's Core Functionality In 15 Lines Of Code". TechCrunch.
  7. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (February 9, 2010). "Twilio's Telephony API Now Lets Applications Send And Receive SMS Messages". TechCrunch.
  8. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (July 13, 2011). "Twilio's Streamlined Shortcode API Now Open To All". TechCrunch.
  9. ↑ "Twilio Closes Funding Round, Lands Major Customers For Its Telephony API". TechCrunch. 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  10. ↑ "Twilio Raises $12 Million For Powerful Telephony API". TechCrunch. 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  11. ↑ "Twilio Raises $17 Million Series C From Bessemer and Union Square To Expand Abroad". TechCrunch. 2011-12-07. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  12. ↑ "Twilio Raises A $70M Series D As They Consider An IPO". TechCrunch. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  13. ↑ "Twilio lands $130 million to make it easier to communicate via software". Fortune. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  14. ↑ Driebusch, Corrie; Farrell, Maureen (23 June 2016). "Twilio's Shares Jump 92% in Trading Debut". The Wall Street Journal.
  15. ↑ "Twilio Welcomes Steve Pugh as Chief Security Officer and Glenn Weinstein as Chief Customer Officer". Valdosta Daily Times. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  16. ↑ Roth, Emma (August 8, 2022). "Twilio suffers data breach after a phishing campaign targeted its employees". The Verge. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  17. ↑ Oage, Carly (August 15, 2022). "Signal says 1,900 users' phone numbers exposed by Twilio breach". TechCrunch. Retrieved August 16, 2022.
  18. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (2022-09-14). "Twilio lays off 11% of its staff as it aims for profitability in 2023". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  19. ↑ Robison, Kylie (2022-09-14). "Twilio promises 'anti-racist' layoffs as CEO says 11% job cuts won't hit workers from 'marginalized communities' more than others". Fortune. Archived from the original on 2022-09-16.
  20. ↑ Lawson, Jeff. "A Message from Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson". Twilio. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  21. ↑ Ford, Brody (2023-02-13). "Twilio Announces Second Wave of Layoffs, Cutting 17% of Workforce". Bloomberg News.
  22. ↑ Capoot, Ashley (2023-02-13). "Twilio to lay off about 1,500 employees, or 17% of its workforce". CNBC.
  23. ↑ "Twilio's Founder On How To Partner With 20,000 Developers - with Jeff Lawson". Mixergy. 2011-01-10. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  24. ↑ "Inception: A Hackday Dream (The Story Of GroupMe)". TechCrunch. 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  25. ↑ Matthew Lynley (January 4, 2011). "Group texting startup GroupMe raises $10.6M despite being a long way from revenue". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  26. ↑ Om Malik (2010-09-23). "Got a Twilio-based App? Get Some Investment Dollars". Gigaom. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  27. ↑ "Announcing Twilio Fund for 500 Startups". Archived from the original on January 30, 2011. Retrieved July 21, 2011.
  28. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (2015-02-24). "Twilio Acquires Two-Factor Authentication Service Authy". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  29. ↑ "Twilio paid $8.5 million in cash for assets of Kurento Open Source Project". VentureBeat. 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
  30. ↑ Matney, Lucas (2017-02-07). "Twilio acquires Beepsend to make message delivery more efficient on its Super Network". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-12-28.
  31. ↑ Miller, Ron (2018-09-11). "Twilio's contact center products just got more analytical with Ytica acquisition". TechCrunch.
  32. ↑ "Twilio to Acquire SendGrid, the Leading Email API Platform". BusinessWire. 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
  33. ↑ "Value of Denver-based SendGrid goes up to $3B as San Francisco's Twilio completes acquisition". The Denver Post. 2019-02-05. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  34. ↑ "Twilio buys Core Network Dynamics". the-mobile-network.com. 2018-11-14.
  35. ↑ "Electric Imp is now part of Twilio". connect.electricimp.com. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
  36. ↑ "Twilio confirms it is buying Segment for $3.2B in an all-stock deal". TechCrunch. 12 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-12.
  37. ↑ MarketScreener. "Twilio Inc. acquired Ionic Security Inc. for $30.2 million. | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  38. ↑ "Cybersecurity M&A Roundup: 36 Deals Announced in May 2021 | SecurityWeek.Com". www.securityweek.com. June 2021. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
  39. ↑ Gagliordi, Natalie. "Twilio to acquire toll-free messaging provider Zipwhip for $850 million". ZDNet. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  40. ↑ Schlosser, Kurt (2021-05-17). "Twilio to acquire Seattle business texting startup Zipwhip for $850M". GeekWire. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  41. ↑ MarketScreener. "Twilio Inc. agreed to acquire Boku Identity, Inc. from Boku, Inc. for $32.3 million. | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  42. ↑ "Twilio and Boku Mobile Identity Come Together to Offer Secure Onboarding". Twilio Blog. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
  43. ↑ Harris, Derrick (March 3, 2009). "Why Amazon Will Make or Break Twilio". Gigaom.
  44. ↑ Dubray, Jean-Jacques (April 25, 2011). "Twilio's Cloud Architecture Principles". InfoQ.
  45. ↑ Levent-Levi, Tsahi (2020-01-06). "The top 6 CPaaS trends to track in 2022". TechTarget. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  46. ↑ "Twilio Releases OpenVBX, An Open Source Google Voice For Businesses". TechCrunch. 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  47. ↑ Catacchio, Chad (2010-07-21). "Twilio open sources Stashboard, an API monitoring dashboard". TNW | Apps. Retrieved 2022-12-10.
  48. ↑ "Localhost running on mac.. Can I view it on my Android phone?". Stack Overflow. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  49. ↑ Vijayakumar, N. V. (2020-10-12). "Twilio To Acquire Cloud Customer Data Startup Segment For $3.2 Billion - The NFA Post". Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  50. ↑ "flask-restful/flask-restful". Github. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  51. ↑ "twilio/shadow". Github. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
  52. ↑ "twilio/BankersBox". Github. Retrieved 2015-12-03.
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