Company:Twilio

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Twilio Inc. is an American cloud communications company based in San Francisco, California, which provides programmable communication tools for making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text messages, and performing other communication functions using its web service APIs. Founded in 2008, the company received multiple rounds of funding prior to its 2016 initial public offering. Twilio has acquired a number of companies since 2015, including the two-factor authentication service Authy and email marketing platform SendGrid. Twilio was subject to three data breaches in 2022 and 2024.[1][2][3]

History

Twilio was founded in 2008 by University of Michigan graduates[4] Jeff Lawson, Evan Cooke, and John Wolthuis[5] and was based initially in Seattle, Washington, and San Francisco, California.[6] On November 20, 2008, the company launched Twilio Voice, an API to make and receive phone calls completely hosted in the cloud.[7] Twilio's text messaging API was released in February 2010,[8] and SMS shortcodes were released in public beta in July 2011.[9]

Twilio is known for using platform evangelism to acquire customers.[10] An early example is GroupMe, which was founded in May 2010 at the hackathon of TechCrunch Disrupt and uses Twilio's text messaging product to facilitate group chat.[11] GroupMe raised $10.6 million in venture funding in January 2011.[12] Seed accelerator 500 Startups (now 500 Global) announced the Twilio Fund, a $250,000 "micro-fund" to provide seed money to startups using Twilio in September 2010.[13][14]

Twilio raised approximately $103 million in venture capital growth funding. Twilio received its first round of seed funding in March 2009 for an undisclosed amount from Mitch Kapor, The Founders Fund, Dave McClure, David G. Cohen, Chris Sacca, Manu Kumar, from K9 Ventures, and Jeff Fluhr.[15] Twilio's first A round of funding was led by Union Square Ventures for $3.7 million[5] and its second B round of funding, for $12 million, was led by Bessemer Venture Partners.[16] Twilio received $17 million in a Series C round in December 2011 from Bessemer Venture Partners and Union Square Ventures.[17] In July 2013 Twilio received another $70 million from Redpoint Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and Bessemer Venture Partners.[18] In July 2015, Twilio raised a $130 million Series E from Fidelity, T Rowe Price, Altimeter Capital Management, and Arrowpoint Partners, in addition to Amazon and Salesforce.[19] Twilio's initial public offering took place on the New York Stock Exchange on June 23, 2016, with a 92% increase in share price on the first day.[20]

In March 2020, Twilio announced the appointment of Steve Pugh as Chief Security Officer and Glenn Weinstein as Chief Customer Officer.[21] In 2021, Twilio shut down its links to Parler due to Parler refusing to agree to monitor hate speech and insurrection on its platform.

In September 2022, Twilio laid off 11% of its workforce.[22][23] The company announced an additional 17% cut in its workforce, nearly 1,500 employees, in February 2023.[24] As a part of restructuring, the company also announced creation of two business units – Twilio Data & Applications and Twilio Communications.[25] In December 2023, Twilio announced a decision to reduce its workforce by 5%, affecting around 300 employees, primarily within its Data and Applications division.[26]

Twilio founder Jeff Lawson stepped down as CEO and board member in January 2024 and was succeeded by Khozema Shipchandler.[27]

Acquisitions

In February 2015, Twilio acquired Authy, a Y Combinator–backed startup that offers two-factor authentication (2FA) services to end users, developers and enterprises.[28]

The company acquired Tikal Technologies, the development team behind the Kurento WebRTC open-source media server software, for $8.5 million in September 2016.[29]

In February 2017, Twilio acquired Beepsend, a Swedish-based SMS messaging provider, for an undisclosed amount.[30] Twilio acquired the Clef 2FA application in March 2017, after which Clef was discontinued and some of its employees were reassigned to Authy products.[31]

Twilio announced in September 2018 that it was acquiring Ytica, a Prague, Czech Republic–based speech analytics firm, for an undisclosed amount.[32] In October 2018 Twilio announced it was acquiring SendGrid, a Denver, Colorado-based customer communication platform for transactional and marketing email, for $2 billion.[33] In February 2019, the two companies were formally merged in a deal valued at $3 billion.[34] In November 2018, the company acquired Core Network Dynamics GmbH, a Berlin, Germany-based virtual evolved packet core company.[35]

Twilio announced in July 2020 that it had acquired Electric Imp, an internet of things platform company, for an undisclosed amount.[36] In October of that year, the company acquired Segment, a platform to collect, clean, and activate customer data, for $3.2 billion.[37] In May 2021, Twilio acquired Ionic Security, a data security platform for $30.2 million,[38][39] and Zipwhip, a toll-free messaging services provider, for $850 million.[40][41]

In January 2022, Twilio announced that it agreed to acquire Boku Identity, Inc. from Boku, Inc. for $32.3 million.[42][43]

In October 2025, Twilio announced its agreement to acquire Stytch, an identity platform for AI agents.[44]

Technology

Twilio uses Amazon Web Services to host its communication infrastructure via APIs.[45] Rather than using industry-standard protocols such as SIP for call control, Twilio uses a customized markup language known as TwiML to allow for direct integration with its services.[46] Twilio and the customer typically exchange TwiML documents via HTTP Webhook.

In June 2010, Twilio launched OpenVBX, an open-source product that lets business users configure phone numbers to receive and route phone calls.[47] One month later, Twilio engineer Kyle Conroy released Stashboard, an open-source status dashboard written in the Python programming language that any API or software service can use to display whether their service is functioning properly.[48]

Security incidents

On August 4, 2022, attackers accessed Twilio's internal network through an SMS phishing campaign targeting Twilio's employees. Twilio confirmed the data breach three days later.[49] On August 15, Signal – which used Twilio for phone number validation – announced that it had been impacted by the breach, indicating that the affected customers included enterprise accounts.[50] The hackers obtained the data of 209 Twilio customers and compromised 93 accounts on Authy, Twilio's 2FA service, while registering their own devices to the accounts.[1][2][51] In October of that year, Twilio disclosed that it had suffered an earlier data breach in June 2022, after a Twilio employee was tricked into revealing their access credentials in a voice phishing attack; Twilio stated that the attacker gained access to customer data for less than 12 hours.[2][52]

In a July 2024 data breach, the ShinyHunters hacker group used an unsecured Twilio API to acquire the phone numbers of over 33 million Authy users.[3][53][54]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Newman, Lily Hay (August 26, 2022). "Why the Twilio Breach Cuts So Deep". https://www.wired.com/story/twilio-breach-phishing-supply-chain-attacks/. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gatlan, Sergiu (October 27, 2022). "Twilio discloses another hack from June, blames voice phishing" (in en-us). https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/twilio-discloses-another-hack-from-june-blames-voice-phishing/. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Roth, Emma (July 3, 2024). "Twilio alerts Authy two-factor app users that 'threat actors' have their phone numbers". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/3/24191791/twilio-authy-2fa-app-phone-numbers-hack-data-breach. 
  4. ↑ Wilkins, Pete (October 11, 2022). "What Drives The University Of Michigan's Entrepreneurial Success". https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterandrewwilkins/2022/10/11/what-drives-the-university-of-michigans-entrepreneurial-success/. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Twilio Raises $3.7 Million For Powerful Telephony API". December 30, 2009. https://techcrunch.com/2009/12/30/twilio-raises-3-7-million-for-powerful-telephony-api/. 
  6. ↑ "Twilio scores funding to build telecom in the cloud business". http://www.techflash.com/seattle/2009/03/Twilio_scores_funding_to_build_cloud_telephony_business_40569397.html. 
  7. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (November 20, 2008). "Twilio: Powerful API For Phone Services That Can Recreate GrandCentral's Core Functionality In 15 Lines Of Code". TechCrunch.
  8. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (February 9, 2010). "Twilio's Telephony API Now Lets Applications Send And Receive SMS Messages". TechCrunch.
  9. ↑ Kincaid, Jason (July 13, 2011). "Twilio's Streamlined Shortcode API Now Open To All". TechCrunch.
  10. ↑ "Twilio's Founder On How To Partner With 20,000 Developers - with Jeff Lawson". Mixergy. January 10, 2011. http://mixergy.com/jeff-lawson-twilio-interview/. 
  11. ↑ "Inception: A Hackday Dream (The Story Of GroupMe)". August 26, 2010. https://techcrunch.com/2010/08/26/inception-a-hackday-dream-the-story-of-groupme/. 
  12. ↑ Matthew Lynley (January 4, 2011). "Group texting startup GroupMe raises $10.6M despite being a long way from revenue". VentureBeat. https://venturebeat.com/2011/01/04/groupme-funding-seriesb/. 
  13. ↑ Om Malik (September 23, 2010). "Got a Twilio-based App? Get Some Investment Dollars". Gigaom. http://gigaom.com/2010/09/23/got-a-twilio-based-app-get-some-investment-dollars/. 
  14. ↑ "Announcing Twilio Fund for 500 Startups". http://blog.500startups.com/2010/09/23/twilio-fund-for-500-startups/. 
  15. ↑ "Twilio Closes Funding Round, Lands Major Customers For Its Telephony API". March 2, 2009. https://techcrunch.com/2009/03/02/twilio-closes-funding-round-lands-major-customers-for-its-telephony-api/. 
  16. ↑ "Twilio Raises $12 Million For Powerful Telephony API". November 9, 2010. https://techcrunch.com/2010/11/09/twilio-raises-12-million-for-powerful-telephony-api/. 
  17. ↑ "Twilio Raises $17 Million Series C From Bessemer and Union Square To Expand Abroad". December 7, 2011. https://techcrunch.com/2011/12/07/twilio-series-c/. 
  18. ↑ "Twilio Raises A $70M Series D As They Consider An IPO". June 7, 2013. https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/07/twilio-raises-a-70m-series-d-as-they-consider-an-ipo/. 
  19. ↑ "Twilio lands $130 million to make it easier to communicate via software" (in en). http://fortune.com/2015/07/29/twilio-lands-million-communicate-software/. 
  20. ↑ Driebusch, Corrie; Farrell, Maureen (June 23, 2016). "Twilio's Shares Jump 92% in Trading Debut". The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/twilio-shares-surge-in-trading-debut-1466692473. 
  21. ↑ "Twilio Welcomes Steve Pugh as Chief Security Officer and Glenn Weinstein as Chief Customer Officer" (in en). March 4, 2020. https://www.twilio.com/en-us/press/releases/twilio-welcomes-steve-pugh-chief-security-officer-and-glenn-weinstein-chief-customer-officer. 
  22. ↑ Wiggers, Kyle (September 14, 2022). "Twilio lays off 11% of its staff as it aims for profitability in 2023" (in en). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/14/twilio-lays-off-11-of-its-staff-as-it-aims-for-profitability-in-2023/. 
  23. ↑ Robison, Kylie (September 14, 2022). "Twilio promises 'anti-racist' layoffs as CEO says 11% job cuts won't hit workers from 'marginalized communities' more than others". Fortune. https://fortune.com/2022/09/14/twilio-declares-anti-racist-layoffs/. 
  24. ↑ Ford, Brody (February 13, 2023). "Twilio Announces Second Wave of Layoffs, Cutting 17% of Workforce". Bloomberg News. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-13/twilio-to-cut-17-of-staff-months-after-last-major-layoff. 
  25. ↑ Capoot, Ashley (February 13, 2023). "Twilio to lay off about 1,500 employees, or 17% of its workforce". https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/13/twilio-layoffs-1500-employees-17percent-of-workforce.html. 
  26. ↑ Goswami, Rohan. "Twilio lays off 5% of employees in unit activists want to divest". CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/04/twilio-layoffs-company-to-cut-5percent-of-employees.html. 
  27. ↑ "Twilio CEO Lawson steps down after bruising activist battles". CNBC. January 8, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/08/twilio-ceo-lawson-steps-down-after-bruising-activist-battles.html. 
  28. ↑ Lardinois, Frederic (February 24, 2015). "Twilio Acquires Two-Factor Authentication Service Authy" (in en). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2015/02/24/twilio-acquires-two-factor-authentication-service-authy/. 
  29. ↑ "Twilio paid $8.5 million in cash for assets of Kurento Open Source Project". VentureBeat. February 22, 2017. https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/22/twilio-paid-8-5-million-in-cash-for-assets-of-kurento-open-source-project//. 
  30. ↑ Matney, Lucas (February 7, 2017). "Twilio acquires Beepsend to make message delivery more efficient on its Super Network" (in en). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/07/twilio-acquires-beepsend-to-make-message-delivery-more-efficient-on-its-super-network/. 
  31. ↑ Etienne, Stefan (17 March 2017). "When two-factor authentication app Clef shuts down in June, its staff will join Authy". https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/17/when-two-factor-authentication-app-clef-shuts-down-in-june-its-staff-will-join-authy/. 
  32. ↑ Miller, Ron (September 11, 2018). "Twilio's contact center products just got more analytical with Ytica acquisition" (in en). TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/11/twilios-contact-center-products-just-got-more-analytical-with-ytica-acquisition/. 
  33. ↑ "Twilio to Acquire SendGrid, the Leading Email API Platform" (in en). BusinessWire. October 15, 2018. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181015005920/en/Twilio-Acquire-Sendgrid-Leading-Email-API-Platform. 
  34. ↑ "Value of Denver-based SendGrid goes up to $3B as San Francisco's Twilio completes acquisition" (in en-US). February 5, 2019. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/02/04/denver-sendgrid-san-franciscos-twilio-acquisition/. 
  35. ↑ "Twilio buys Core Network Dynamics" (in en). the-mobile-network.com. November 14, 2018. https://the-mobile-network.com/2018/11/twilio-buys-core-network-dynamics/. 
  36. ↑ "Electric Imp is now part of Twilio" (in en). https://connect.electricimp.com/blog/electric-imp-is-now-part-of-twilio. 
  37. ↑ "Twilio confirms it is buying Segment for $3.2B in an all-stock deal" (in en-US). October 12, 2020. https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/12/twilio-confirms-it-is-buying-segment-for-3-2b-in-an-all-stock-deal/. 
  38. ↑ MarketScreener (May 17, 2021). "Twilio Inc. acquired Ionic Security Inc. for $30.2 million. | MarketScreener" (in en). https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/TWILIO-INC-28734706/news/Twilio-Inc-acquired-Ionic-Security-Inc-for-30-2-million-35478663/. 
  39. ↑ "Cybersecurity M&A Roundup: 36 Deals Announced in May 2021 | SecurityWeek.Com". June 2021. https://www.securityweek.com/cybersecurity-ma-roundup-36-deals-announced-may-2021. 
  40. ↑ Gagliordi, Natalie. "Twilio to acquire toll-free messaging provider Zipwhip for $850 million" (in en). https://www.zdnet.com/article/twilio-to-acquire-toll-free-messaging-provider-zipwhip-for-850-million/. 
  41. ↑ Schlosser, Kurt (May 17, 2021). "Twilio to acquire Seattle business texting startup Zipwhip for $850M" (in en-US). https://www.geekwire.com/2021/twilio-acquire-seattle-business-texting-startup-zipwhip-850m/. 
  42. ↑ MarketScreener (January 19, 2022). "Twilio Inc. agreed to acquire Boku Identity, Inc. from Boku, Inc. for $32.3 million. | MarketScreener" (in en). https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/BOKU-INC-38777756/news/Twilio-Inc-entered-into-an-agreement-to-acquire-Boku-Identity-Inc-from-Boku-Inc-for-32-3-milli-37598996/. 
  43. ↑ Pugh, Alex (2022-03-04). "Boku offloads ID verification division to focus on mobile payments" (in en). https://www.fintechfutures.com/biometrics-id-verification/boku-offloads-id-verification-division-to-focus-on-mobile-payments. 
  44. ↑ Staff, S. C. (2025-11-10). "Twilio buys Stytch for AI identity" (in en). https://www.scworld.com/brief/twilio-buys-stytch-for-ai-identity. 
  45. ↑ Harris, Derrick (March 3, 2009). "Why Amazon Will Make or Break Twilio" . Gigaom.
  46. ↑ Levent-Levi, Tsahi (January 6, 2020). "The top 6 CPaaS trends to track in 2022" (in en). https://www.techtarget.com/searchunifiedcommunications/tip/The-top-5-CPaaS-market-trends-to-track-in-2020. 
  47. ↑ "Twilio Releases OpenVBX, An Open Source Google Voice For Businesses". June 15, 2010. https://techcrunch.com/2010/06/15/twilio-openvbx-google-voice/. 
  48. ↑ Catacchio, Chad (July 21, 2010). "Twilio open sources Stashboard, an API monitoring dashboard" (in en). https://thenextweb.com/news/twilio-open-sources-stashboard-an-api-monitoring-dashboard. 
  49. ↑ Roth, Emma (August 8, 2022). "Twilio suffers data breach after a phishing campaign targeted its employees". The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/8/23296923/twilio-data-breach-phishing-campaign-employees-targeted. 
  50. ↑ Oage, Carly (August 15, 2022). "Signal says 1,900 users' phone numbers exposed by Twilio breach". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/15/signal-phone-number-exposed-twilio/. 
  51. ↑ Page, Carly (August 26, 2022). "Twilio says breach compromised Authy two-factor app users". https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/26/twilio-breach-authy/. 
  52. ↑ Page, Carly (October 28, 2022). "Twilio hack investigation reveals second breach, as the number of affected customers rises". https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/28/twilio-june-data-breach/. 
  53. ↑ Abrams, Lawrence (July 3, 2024). "Hackers abused API to verify millions of Authy MFA phone numbers" (in en-us). https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-abused-api-to-verify-millions-of-authy-mfa-phone-numbers/. 
  54. ↑ Fadilpašić, Sead (July 4, 2024). "Twilio confirms hackers accessed Authy user phone numbers" (in en). https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/twilio-data-breach-gets-a-whole-lot-worse-as-it-confirms-hackers-accessed-authy-user-phone-numbers. 



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