SendBird raises $16 Million during Series A round led by Shasta Ventures

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SendBird, a leading global provider of chat API and messaging SDK for in-app chat and messaging, raised $16 million during its Series A led by Shasta Ventures and August Capital with participation from existing investors at Y Combinator and FundersClub.

SendBird, K-ICT Born2Global Centre's member company, launched in 2015 in Korea with co-founders John S. Kim, Brandon Jeon, Harry Kim, and Forest Lee as a chat solution for mobile and web applications. It has since moved its headquarters to Silicon Valley, while retaining its Research and Development office and APAC branch in Seoul, Korea.

Since then, SendBird powers chat for over 6,500 applications in 153 countries globally. It can support over a million concurrent users for each application, making it the most scalable chat API available. Their top global customers include GO-JEK, Nexon, TMON, SSG, KB (Kookmin Bank), and Healthline.

"It's our mission to digitize human interactions for businesses," said John S. Kim, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, "With the new round of financing, we can accelerate our plan to help companies rapidly increase the engagement and retention of their users by enabling real-time conversation with our chat API."

Doug Pepper, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures and Villi Iltchev, Partner at August Capital will join SendBird's Board of Directors.

"SendBird developed a breakthrough product that satisfies a growing need in the market for advanced chat and messaging capabilities that scale to the numbers required by enterprises and integrate seamlessly with their applications," said Doug Pepper. "With Shasta's partnership, SendBird will be able to double-down on its product's strength and continue to attract top engineering talent to do it."

"We have seen a massive adoption of messaging and API services across enterprise and consumer apps," said Villi Iltchev. "SendBird enables world-class enterprises to build rich and engaging messaging experiences that scale to millions of users across a wide range of use-cases, whether engaging with customers in online marketplaces, on-demand services, and ecommerce or fostering large online communities"

About SendBird

SendBird (https://sendbird.com) is a leading global provider of chat API for in-app chat and messaging. SendBird powers chat for over 6,500 applications in 153 countries globally. It can support over a million concurrent users for each application, making it the most scalable chat API available. Their top global customers include GO-JEK, Nexon, TMON, SSG, KB (Kookmin Bank), and Healthline.

About K-ICT Born2Global Centre

K-ICT Born2Global Centre (https://born2global.com) is a full-cycle service platform for global expansion. Since inception in 2013, Born2Global has been setting the standard for a successful startup ecosystem as the main Korean government agency under the Ministry of Science and ICT. Born2Global has expanded and transformed startups to be engaged, equipped and connected with the global market.

Contact

Alek Jeziorek
Content & PR Rep of SendBird
[email protected]

Jina Lee 
PR Manager of Born2Global 
[email protected]

SOURCE K-ICT Born2Global Centre