Cloud communication firm Twilio Inc, headquartered in San Francisco has acquired ValueFirst, one of India’s leading CPaaS players. This partnership brings the world’s largest cloud communication company and India’s leading cPaaS platform together. India is the second largest mobile market in the world, the coming together of these players means big things. Twilio aims to benefit from ValueFirst’s customers, market know-how and product offerings, to further scale their operations.
Going by the excerpts from their company blog announcing the acquisition, ValueFirst & Twilio have been working hard at solving different aspects of the CPaaS industry, and in their conversations over the last few months, they realized how they can help each other grow, and also how alike their values were.
India is an important market for Twilio and their customers. The country is experiencing significant growth and presents a number of opportunities in the areas of messaging, conversational AI, and mar-tech.
“ValueFirst and Twilio have so much in common. ValueFirst’s entrepreneurial spirit and people-focused mentality remind us so much of our own values,” said Doug Garland, SVP of Strategic Business Development for Twilio. “Together, we are excited to accelerate our position in an important market and turbocharge our combined success,” he added.
Commenting on the partnership, Vishwadeep Bajaj, CEO & Founder, ValueFirst said that “We’re obsessed with customer centricity and helping businesses have joyful conversations. Twilio and ValueFirst share very similar values. Twilio’s trusted brand, services, and global reach will enable us to service our customers in more meaningful ways.”
Ruchir Lahoty, an early ValueFirst investor with MegaDelta Capital also commented on this development. Ruchir said “Our journey with ValueFirst and Vishwadeep has been a fantastic and fulfilling ride. We triumphed over significant regulatory and business challenges along the way that saw quite a few of the competitors pivot or wither away. It’s a testament to Vishwadeep and his team that they stayed true to building a world class CPaaS company out of India. With this merger, ValueFirst gets parentage of a world leader as it embarks upon its next phase of growth and leadership not just in India but also in the region.”
Anand Rathi Advisors acted as exclusive advisors for ValueFirst shareholders. Samir Bahl, CEO, Anand Rathi Advisors said, “We are privileged to have been associated with this marquee transaction. With this acquisition, Twilio has created an ideal platform to further penetrate the Indian market which is one of the fastest growing markets globally, resulting in value creation for both Twilio and Valuefirst shareholders. Vishwadeep Bajaj has created one of the best CPaaS platforms in India. I am confident that with a global leader in the space like Twilio as a partner he will take the business to the next level.”
ValueFirst will work closely with the Twilio leadership and share knowledge, insights, and connections to grow the market even more.
Founded in 2003, ValueFirst is one of the top CPaaS players of India. Headquartered in Gurugram, India, ValueFirst has offices across India, Middle East, and Indonesia. ValueFirst connects businesses with consumers over telecom (SMS & Voice) and internet (Chatbots, Email & OTT) channels.
