SendGrid explained

SendGrid
Type:Subsidiary
Founder:Isaac Saldana
Jose Lopez
Tim Jenkins
Key People:Sameer Dholakia (CEO)
Industry:Technology
Foundation:2009
Revenue:$111.9 million (2017)[1]
Parent:Twilio
Location City:Denver, Colorado
Location Country:United States

Twilio SendGrid, commonly known as SendGrid, is an American communication platform for transactional and marketing email based in Denver, Colorado.[2]

History

SendGrid was founded in 2009 by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez, and Tim Jenkins.[3] [4] Later, it was incubated through the Techstars accelerator program.[5] [6] By December 2009, the company announced it had raised $750,000 in a funding round led by Highway 12 Ventures. Other participating investors included SoftTech VC, FF Angel, and TechStars founder David Cohen.

In April 2010, the email software-as-a-service (SaaS) company received $5 million in Series A round funding from Foundry Group, SoftTech VC, and Highway 12 Ventures, as well as individual investors including David Cohen, Scott Petry, Dave McClure, and Matt Mullenweg.[7] Ryan McIntyre, the co-founder of Foundry, joined SendGrid's board of directors at this time as well.

In January 2012, SendGrid raised $21 million in Series B funding, led by Bessemer Venture Partners.[8] [9] [10] In August 2012, SendGrid opened an office in Denver.[11] [12] In December 2012, SendGrid partnered with Twilio to incorporate SMS and push notification services to its platform.[13] [14]

In March 2013, the controversial firing of Adria Richards and the surrounding circumstances became known as Donglegate.[15] [16] [17] In June 2013, SendGrid released its new email marketing service.[18] [19] [20]

In September 2014, former Citrix executive Sameer Dholakia joined SendGrid as the CEO.[21] In December 2014, SendGrid raised $20 million in Series C funding. The series C round was led by a new investor Bain Capital Ventures. Current investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Foundry Group also participated.[22]

In November 2016, SendGrid raised $33 million in Series D funding. The round was led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Bessemer Ventures and the Foundry Group.

SendGrid went public with a debut in the New York Stock Exchange on November 16, 2017.[23]

In October 2018, Twilio announced plans to acquire SendGrid for $2 billion.[24] Twilio completed its acquisition of SendGrid on February 1, 2019.[25]

Platform

SendGrid provides a cloud-based service that assists businesses with email delivery.[26] [27] The service manages various types of email including shipping notifications, friend requests, sign-up confirmations, and email newsletters. It also handles Internet service provider (ISP) monitoring, domain keys, the sender policy framework (SPF), and feedback loops.[28] [29] Additionally, the company provides link tracking and open rate reporting. It also allows companies to track email opens, unsubscribes, bounces, and spam reports.[30]

SendGrid offered a freemium version and a Lite Plan (pay-as-you-go), as well as three expanded levels of service: Essentials, Pro, and Premier,[31] until it ended its free version in May 2025.[32]

Notes and References

  1. News: SendGrid Company Profile . Craft . 27 September 2019.
  2. Web site: SendGrid Sends 7.5 Million Emails, Brings Former Oracle Exec As CEO . Leena Rao . March 9, 2011 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  3. Web site: Startup Stories: SendGrid shares its passion for fixing email . Brad McCarty . May 16, 2013 . The Next Web . August 13, 2013.
  4. Web site: Bessemer Leads 21m Round In Cloud-Based Email Delivery And Management Service SendGrid . Leena Rao . January 17, 2012 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  5. Web site: TechStars Incubator Hatches 10 New Companies . August 6, 2009 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  6. Web site: TechStars Investor Day Hits a Home Run . https://web.archive.org/web/20121209035132/http://readwrite.com/2009/09/30/techstars-investor-day-hits-a#awesm=~obNWKNcC2fuEQE . usurped . December 9, 2012 . Dana Oshiro . September 30, 2009 . ReadWrite . August 13, 2013.
  7. Web site: TechStars startup SendGrid raises $5 million . Alastair Goldfisher . May 4, 2010 . Reuters . August 13, 2013.
  8. Web site: Venture capital deals . Dan Primack . January 18, 2012 . CNN Money . August 13, 2013.
  9. Web site: Alicia Wallace . January 18, 2012 . Boulder startup SendGrid raises $21 million . August 13, 2013 . The Denver Post.
  10. Web site: SendGrid raises $21M in VC; Microsoft to partner . January 17, 2012 . Denver Business Journal . August 13, 2013.
  11. Web site: Boulder's SendGrid opening Denver office . Greg Avery . August 10, 2012 . Denver Business Journal . August 13, 2013.
  12. News: Email delivery platform SendGrid raises $33 million ahead of IPO in 2017. 2016-11-30. VentureBeat. 2018-08-01. en-US.
  13. Web site: Cloud tag team: SendGrid and Twilio partner on email, SMS, and voicemail solutions for the enterprise . Sean Ludwig . December 4, 2012 . VentureBeat . August 13, 2013.
  14. Web site: SendGrid and Twilio team up to offer email, SMS, voice and push notifications for the enterprise market . Harrison Weber . December 4, 2012 . The Next Web . August 13, 2013.
  15. News: The Guardian. The Internet Shaming of Lindsey Stone. 21 February 2015 . Ronson . Jon .
  16. News: Techie Adria Richards fired after tweeting about men's comments. CBS News.
  17. News: SendGrid employee's tweet sets off firestorm. The Denver Post. Andy. Vuong. March 25, 2013. September 18, 2015.
  18. Web site: SendGrid launches email marketing service that undercuts MailChimp & Constant Contact . Sean Ludwig . June 18, 2013 . VentureBeat . August 13, 2013.
  19. Web site: SendGrid picks fight with heavyweight MailChimp in email marketing . https://archive.today/20130815171650/http://gigaom.com/2013/06/18/sendgrid-picks-fight-with-heavyweight-mailchimp-in-email-marketing/ . dead . August 15, 2013 . Barb Darrow . June 18, 2013 . Gigaom . August 13, 2013.
  20. Web site: SendGrid launches email service . Kristina Knight . June 18, 2013 . BizReport . August 13, 2013.
  21. Web site: SendGrid replaces Franklin as CEO. Denver Business Journal. Greg. Avery. September 30, 2014.
  22. News: 2014-12-02. SendGrid Caches $20M Series C for Email Technology. en-US. Wall Street Journal. 2020-12-21. 0099-9660.
  23. News: Chuang . Tamara . As SendGrid preps for public debut, the IPO market appears receptive . . 2017-11-12 . 2017-11-13 .
  24. News: Twilio to acquire email API platform SendGrid for $2 billion. Condon. Stephanie. 15 October 2018. ZDNet. 8 November 2018.
  25. Web site: Twilio Completes Acquisition of SendGrid. 1 February 2019. www.twilio.com. en. 2 June 2020.
  26. Web site: SendGrid Is Sending 2 Billion Emails Per Month And Just Getting Started . Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry . August 2, 2011 . Business Insider . August 13, 2013.
  27. Web site: Inbox Alert: SendGrid Sends 45B Emails For 60,000 Customers, 20B In 2012 Alone . Ingrid Lunden . June 29, 2012 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  28. Web site: SendGrid Raises $750K for Email Delivery Software . Leena Rao . December 8, 2009 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  29. Web site: All Those Emails From Pinterest Are Very Good For This Guy . Julie Bort . March 1, 2012 . Business Insider . August 13, 2013.
  30. Web site: SendGrid Raises $5 Million, Sends A Bajillion Emails . Evelyn Rusli . April 20, 2010 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  31. Web site: Email Delivery System SendGrid Announces New Pricing Model, Now You Can Pay-As-You-Go . Rip Empson . May 10, 2011 . TechCrunch . August 13, 2013.
  32. Web site: Changes coming to SendGrid’s Free Plan . 2025-08-16 . Twilio . en.

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