MessageBird vs Zendesk

2024. MessageBird rebrands as Bird, and slashes prices by 90% on SMS to take on Twilio



MessageBird, the cloud communications platform catering to enterprises, has undergone a significant transformation by acquiring the domain Bird.com and rebranding as Bird. In a strategic move to compete with industry rivals like Twilio, the company is introducing a series of new products and implementing substantial price reductions. The Bird CRM, designed for marketing, sales, and payments across email, SMS, and WhatsApp, will now feature discounts ranging from 40-90%, with SMS charges slashed by a remarkable 90%. This shift is noteworthy, particularly considering that a $100,000 expenditure on SMS or email with competitors like Twilio, Klaviyo, or Attentive could equate to a $10,000 investment. The company emphasizes the need to move beyond the realm of API providers atop channels, asserting that channel capabilities matter more than the channels themselves. By essentially giving away channel costs, Bird aims to differentiate itself from other providers and reshape the dynamics of the market.


2022. Zendesk is acquired for $10.2B



Zendesk made a significant decision in February when it rejected a $17 billion acquisition offer, confident in its higher valuation. However, the circumstances have changed, and today the company has been acquired by a consortium of private equity firms for $10.2 billion, considerably lower than the initial proposal. The evolving landscape of the SaaS market in recent months has placed Zendesk amidst a whirlwind of investor drama. In a recent development, the company opted to remain independent, causing a sharp decline in its stock price.


2021. Zendesk acquires AI automation startup Cleverly to advance customer service



Zendesk has recently revealed its acquisition of Cleverly, an early-stage artificial intelligence startup. Cleverly offers an advanced product platform equipped with various AI-powered features. This includes a triage function that automatically assigns relevant tags to incoming service requests, facilitating efficient workflow categorization. Moreover, Cleverly provides AI-powered human augmentation through its agent assist capability, which assists customer service agents in delivering accurate responses to inquiries. Cleverly's technology seamlessly integrates with Zendesk and Salesforce, enabling enhanced customer support experiences for businesses leveraging these platforms.


2021. MessageBird acquires SparkPost for $600M



MessageBird, a communication platform based in the Netherlands, made two significant announcements today. Firstly, the company secured an extension of $800 million for its existing $200 million Series C funding round. Subsequently, MessageBird utilized $600 million from the extension to acquire SparkPost, an email marketing platform. While MessageBird already had an email component, the opportunity to acquire the world's largest email provider was too compelling to ignore. With the addition of SparkPost to its portfolio, MessageBird gains a stronger foothold in the U.S. market, expanding its presence beyond Europe and Asia.


2021. MessageBird acquires 24sessions to bring video to its omnichannel platform



MessageBird, a cloud communications platform that offers omnichannel solutions, has recently acquired 24sessions, a customer engagement platform focused on video communication. With the addition of 24sessions' video platform, MessageBird expands its range of communication channels, specifically emphasizing the significance of video in replicating in-person interactions digitally. MessageBird positions itself as an "Omnichannel Platform-as-a-Service" (OPaaS), aiming to provide enterprises, as well as medium and smaller-sized companies, with seamless communication capabilities across various channels. The goal is to empower businesses to engage with their customers through their preferred channels easily.


2020. MessageBird acquires real-time notifications and in-app messaging platform Pusher



MessageBird, the omnichannel cloud communications platform, has recently acquired Pusher, a real-time web technologies company, in a deal worth $35 million. MessageBird plans to maintain Pusher as an independent entity to serve its existing customer base. The acquisition of Pusher fills a crucial gap in MessageBird's communication platform, which primarily focuses on SMS and messaging-first channels like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Line, and WeChat. Pusher's expertise in in-app notifications, along with its developer-friendly API and SDKs centered around "push" technology, will enhance MessageBird's capabilities. Notable features that Pusher brings to the table include in-app messaging, push notifications, and location tracking.


2020. Omnichannel communication platform MessageBird raises $200M



MessageBird, the cloud communications company headquartered in Amsterdam, has successfully secured $200 million in Series C funding. While initially perceived as a European or "rest of the world" rival to Twilio, a U.S.-based cloud communications platform, MessageBird has since repositioned itself as an "Omnichannel Platform-as-a-Service" (OPaaS). The primary goal is to enable enterprises, as well as medium and smaller-sized companies, to effortlessly engage with customers through their preferred communication channels. The platform offers support for various channels right from the start, including WhatsApp, Messenger, WeChat, Twitter, Line, Telegram, SMS, email, and voice. This flexibility empowers customers to initiate their interactions online and seamlessly transition to a more convenient channel, such as their preferred mobile messaging app, ensuring uninterrupted communication.


2020. Zendesk’s latest tools designed to give fuller view of the customer



Two years ago, Zendesk, a well-known provider of help desk software, expanded into CRM with its acquisition of Base. Shortly after, the company introduced the Sunshine platform, enabling customers to develop applications on top of the Zendesk platform. Since then, Zendesk has been actively integrating the CRM tool into its platform, and today's announcement focuses on offering Zendesk users a more comprehensive understanding of their customers. With access to extensive data from customer interactions with the help desk, Zendesk can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors.


2018. Zendesk launched customer service app builder



Zendesk has introduced Zendesk Sunshine, a new platform designed for developing customer-centric applications utilizing Zendesk's toolset. This platform enables companies to create custom apps, primarily focused on customer experience and relationship management, which are hosted on AWS and have access to a wide range of AWS services. All applications built on the Sunshine platform rely on it for seamless information sharing. The primary goal of this approach is to empower Zendesk customers to leverage the data they collect within Zendesk as a natural outcome of their workflow. While initially targeted towards Zendesk customers, independent developers may also have the opportunity to work on the platform in the future. Zendesk Sunshine aims to enhance customer service capabilities by providing a flexible and scalable platform for building tailored applications and harnessing valuable data within the Zendesk ecosystem.


2018. Zendesk launched enterprise content management platform



Zendesk has introduced Guide Enterprise, a new enterprise content management product specifically designed for large customer service organizations. This solution aims to provide these organizations with a knowledge base and a content management platform for effective editorial planning and review. The primary goal is to empower customer service representatives to document solutions to encountered problems, thus building a robust knowledge base as an integral part of their daily workflow. By accessing their colleagues' notes, representatives can avoid reinventing the wheel and contribute to the permanent knowledge base through editorial review. This way, when customers visit the website or app, they can access solutions to common issues without immediate human assistance. The platform also incorporates reminders to regularly review and update the content, ensuring the knowledge base remains up-to-date while eliminating outdated information.