OpenView Leads $22.5 Million Investment in Zipwhip
September 6, 2017
OpenView is thrilled to announce our Series C investment in Zipwhip, a Seattle-based software provider that allows thousands of businesses and organizations, including BMW, Aflac and the Brooklyn Nets, to seamlessly connect and engage with customers through landline texting.
Founded in 2008 by messaging veteran John Lauer, Zipwhip was the first-ever texting provider for existing landline and toll free phone numbers. Today the company helps organizations around the globe modernize their communications by giving customers and businesses the power to interact as they and so many of us prefer — via text message.
Text messaging is engrained in our daily lives. It’s our preferred way of communicating. And thanks to Zipwhip’s innovative technology, businesses can finally communicate with their customers in a way that’s suited to the 21st century. According to Twilio’s mobile messaging consumer report, 9 out of 10 consumers prefer to use messaging to communicate with businesses. In fact, the average US consumer has for years received many more text messages than phone calls.
Before Zipwhip, communicating with a business via text was all but impossible. It meant business reps using their personal cellphones for such a purpose. And when customers did try to engage proactively, they were forced to pick up the phone or email a support address. Now, thanks to the asynchronous nature of text messaging, businesses using Zipwhip to text-enable their existing landline numbers have seen an increase in responsiveness from their customer base and an increase in the bandwidth of their customer-facing staff.
Zipwhip’s technology is unparalleled and the talent of its team unmatched. John Lauer helped build the shortcode industry as the CEO of Simplewire, which eventually became OpenMarket — a mobile messaging platform that allows businesses to build workflows for SMS and MMS messages. His relationships in and deep understanding of the messaging industry have allowed Zipwhip to provide its customers with world-class deliverability through direct partnerships with carriers.
Zipwhip is deployed in a growing number of businesses and government agencies across verticals including insurance, retail, staffing, media, automotive, healthcare and public safety. The company has grown to more than 100 employees and continues to innovate. Most recently, Zipwhip launched full integrations with with Salesforce, Velocify, Microsoft Dynamics and Zapier to make the product experience even better.
Zipwhip is driving the ubiquity of texting for business. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with the team as they continue to scale. Welcome to the OpenView family!