Voyager and Microsoft Ventures invest $9M in business text messaging platform Zipwhip
With the proliferation of so many messaging apps, from Facebook Messenger to WhatsApp to Snapchat, it may seem like SMS texting is not relevant anymore. — Zipwhip's latest fundraising round certainly proves that theory wrong.
Context & Ripple Effects
In 2016, the consensus was that consumer messaging apps — Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat — had made plain SMS irrelevant. Voyager and Microsoft Ventures' $9M bet on Zipwhip argues the opposite for one specific use case: businesses reaching customers by text, where a message lands without either side installing an app.
The thesis aged well enough that Zipwhip later raised a $51.5M Series D, and the category it validated became an acquisition target for communications platforms racing to own business messaging.
First-order effects
- The $9M gives Zipwhip capital to scale its business-texting platform while rivals chase app-based channels, doubling down on SMS as the reach-everyone channel rather than ceding ground to Messenger and WhatsApp.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft Ventures' participation signals strategic interest from a cloud giant in enterprise messaging infrastructure, and the category's momentum draws consolidators: Twilio ultimately pays $850M for Zipwhip itself, while Sinch buys MessageMedia for $1.3B to compete in business SMS and Infobip raises $200M at a $1B+ valuation.
Third-order effects
- Business-to-customer texting gets absorbed into CPaaS platforms rather than remaining a standalone category — and absorption cuts both ways, as Twilio's later decision to sunset the Zipwhip service shows acquired products can be folded away once their technology is integrated.
The trend: Business messaging is consolidating around CPaaS platforms, with SMS repositioned from a consumer product losing to WhatsApp and Messenger into enterprise infrastructure worth billion-dollar acquisitions.