November 23, 2024

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SendBird, a US-based startup devoted to customizable chat and messaging API service, announced on May 8 it has raised an additional $50 million, bringing its total Series B funding round to $102 million, in order to meet the rapidly growing global demand for in-app user-to-user messaging.

The San Mateo-based startup added it has opened offices in Singapore, London and Bengaluru in conjunction with the investments.

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The latest funding was led by US hedge fund Tiger Global Management while the initial investors led by ICONIQ Capital also joined the round. Tiger Global Management has a track record of investing in tech giants such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Spotify.

“By championing software engineering teams, extending their ability to build, scale and maintain complex chat and messaging infrastructure, SendBird continues to serve and delight customers. The enthusiastic reaction in Europe and Asia demonstrates a large global opportunity we will continue to invest in,” Matthew Jacobson, General Partner at ICONIQ Capital, said in a statement.

SendBird’s service allows businesses to incorporate the customizable chat and messaging API service into their own apps without strenuously spending time, workforce and money, among others. The company says by achieving this, businesses can drive key goals forward, while users remain captivated with their own mobile apps or websites.

SendBird CEO John Kim pledged to hire leaders in key business areas across the world, in order to build the go-to-market engine to scale its global presence.

“We’ve already hired in the UK, Singapore and India, and will continue to hire rapidly in our two main locations, the US and South Korea,” he said, ”Since our customers are global, we aim to build global operations as our core competency.”

By Son Ji-hyoung (consnow@heraldcorp.com)