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Software vendor Twilio is to buy email automation services provider SendGrid in an all-stock deal worth US$2 billion.
Twilio, a cloud communications platform developer, said the combined company would have a US$700 million annualised revenue run rate and would drive more half a trillion customer interactions.
Under the terms of the deal, SendGrid will remain as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Twilio. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2019.
San Francisco-based Twilio specialises in helping businesses communicate with customers through phone, text messaging and video. With the addition of SendGrid, Twilio will now add email to its list of services.
“Increasingly, our customers are asking us to solve all of their strategic communications challenges - regardless of channel,” said Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO at Twilio.
“Email is a vital communications channel for companies around the world, and so it was important to us to include this capability in our platform. The two companies share the same vision, the same model, and the same values.”
Earlier this year, Twilio opened up a base in Australia, hiring former Oracle and Symantec executive, Richard Watson, as its country director.
The vendor now operates two offices in Sydney and Melbourne with approximately16 members of staff on the ground.
In June, Twilio launched a new partnership program named Build to help bring go-to-market support, certification and training programs and support team for partners.
The program was launched under the leadership of former One Commercial Partner organisation vice president, Ron Huddleston, who became Twilio's chief partner officer in February.
