Sendbird Acquires $100M Funding Expands Platform and Functionalities

Sendbird Inc., a chat and video platform operator, announced that it had raised 111.6 billion won ($100 million) through the Series C funding. Established in 2013, Sendbird is a startup that helps software developers integrate real-time chat and video mediums into their apps. Thanks to the investment attraction, Sendbird values at 1.2 trillion won ($1.05 billion), becoming the first South Korean business-to-business enterprise software startup unicorn.

Steadfast Venture Capital headed Sendbird’s Series C funding, and its managing director, Karan Mehandru, would be joining Sendbird’s board. Besides Steadfast Venture Capital, some of the funding’s other backers include World Innovation Lab, Emergence Capital, and Tiger Global Management. Since its Series B investment in 2019, Sendbird’s monthly active users and the number of its supported applications have grown significantly.

Sendbird and its chat and video platform currently support more than 150 million users on various mobile apps, including Delivery Hero, Hinge, Reddit, and Teladoc.

Accomplishing Tasks Through Mobile Apps

“From food delivery to healthcare, education, entertainment, shopping, and so much more, every business is looking to connect digitally with its customers,” said John Kim, Sendbird’s CEO and co-founder. Due to the increasing virtual changes amid the contactless era, more users depend on mobile apps to accomplish countless tasks. With the pandemic accelerating the non-face-to-face trend, Sendbird also noted a considerable demand for its services across numerous industries.

Customer-Centric Business Value

As Sendbird stated, one of its core values is ‘endless tenacity for customers.’ Notably, the company could carry out this value through the investment and create better opportunities to serve their customers. To this end, Sendbird would continue innovating products and services and investing in strategic partnerships, documentation, customer support, and more. In particular, Sendbird would use its raised capital to upgrade its existing functionalities and introduce innovative products and solutions.

In addition to expanding its capabilities, Sendbird would also increase its workforce worldwide and shape the next-generation mobile app experience. According to Sendbird, it has succeeded in earning customers’ trust in traditional industries such as dating, gaming, and shopping platforms. Sendbird said that it has also reinforced its standing in newer industries, including digital learning and healthcare, fintech, and live-streaming.

Sendbird also plans to utilize mobile messaging apps’ advantages to obtain better business results and workflows. The company would use its market leadership to establish new connectivity services and become a leading e-commerce platform developer.