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Denver-Based SendGrid to be Acquired for $2 Billion
Communications platform, Twilio, will buy the publicly traded company in an all stock deal
Gigi Sukin //October 16, 2018//
Denver-Based SendGrid to be Acquired for $2 Billion
Communications platform, Twilio, will buy the publicly traded company in an all stock deal
Gigi Sukin //October 16, 2018//
Twilio, a $7.4 billion company that helps apps and websites send texts and place calls, announced its intent to acquire Denver-based SendGrid, an email API platform, in an all stock deal valued around $2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019. After clearing authorities, SendGrid will become a wholly owned subsidiary, while its common stock will be converted into Twilio stock.
"Joining Twilio will allow us to accelerate our journey toward a shared vision of offering one trusted platform to fuel the future of customer communications," said SendGrid CEO Sameer Dholakia in a statement Monday, Oct. 15. "Today's announcement will enhance our brand among developers, give us immediate scale, and expand opportunities to cross sell and invest."
SendGrid, founded in 2009 by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez and Tim Jenkins, is a customer communication platform for newsletters, transactional and marketing email. The company was incubated in the TechStars accelerator program in 2009. As of 2017, the publicly traded company raised more than $81 million, sent nearly 36 billion emails a month on behalf of customers including Uber and Spotify, and has offices in Denver, Boulder, Irvine, California, Redwood City, California, and London.
When SendGrid went public in 2017, it priced its stock at $16; as of Monday, the company was trading at just under $31. At the closing bell, SendGrid was valued at $1.43 billion.
This event represents Twilio's biggest acquisition to date.
"The two companies share the same vision, the same model, and the same values," said Twilio co-founder and CEO Jeff Lawson in the announcement. "We believe this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring together the two leading developer-focused communications platforms to create the unquestioned platform of choice for all companies looking to transform their customer engagement."
