Twilio to acquire Seattle business texting startup Zipwhip for $850M
May 17, 2021 at 3:14 pm
Zipwhip CEO John Lauer shows off the company’s Texterator, a text-enabled beer bot that made its debut at the 2016 GeekWire Gala. (Zipwhip Photo)
Twilio, a communications software company with Seattle roots, is acquiring Seattle-based business-texting startup Zipwhip for approximately $850 million in a cash and stock deal, the companies announced Monday.
Founded in 2007, Zipwhip originally targeted consumers and set out to be the “Facebook of text messaging.” But it pivoted around 2013, taking a different approach by working with wireless carriers to enable hundreds of millions of business landlines to receive and send text messages. This allowed companies to text with their customers from landline phones, VoIP services, and toll-free numbers.
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Sheer Pleasure
By Patty Mamula
The difficult we do right away; the impossible takes a little longer.” For Jon and Kathy Lauer, owners of Byrn Mawr Vineyards, this adage feels familiar.
The couple’s foray into wine started in 2009, after purchasing 20 acres in the Eola-Amity Hills area, northwest of Salem. It was a steep, challenging site, and the Lauers were new to it all.
Although inexperienced, the two attorneys from San Diego were enthusiastic about their new retirement venture. They turned the existing house into living quarters on the main floor and built a winery/tasting room in the basement. The couple then hired young Rachel Rose, a novice winemaker. A risky decision at the time, but a great one in the end: Rose remains the foundation of the winery’s success.