Twilio was founded in 2008 by Jeff Lawson, Evan Cooke, and John Wolthuis in San Francisco. The company’s pitch to developers was compelling: add phone calls, text messages, and other communication channels to your app with just a few lines of code. Twilio went public on the NYSE in June 2016 and has grown into one of the largest cloud communications companies, with annual revenue exceeding $4 billion.
The platform offers APIs for SMS, voice calls, video, WhatsApp, email (through its 2020 acquisition of SendGrid for $3 billion), and more. Twilio powers the communications behind apps you use daily — ride-sharing notifications, two-factor authentication codes, appointment reminders, and customer service lines. Over 300,000 businesses use Twilio, including Airbnb, Uber, Netflix, and Stripe.
Twilio Flex is their cloud contact center platform, letting businesses build custom contact center experiences. Twilio Segment (acquired in 2020 for $3.2 billion) provides customer data infrastructure, connecting customer data across all touchpoints. These acquisitions expanded Twilio well beyond basic communication APIs.
The company has faced challenges with slowing growth and pressure to improve profitability, leading to significant layoffs in 2022 and 2023. Twilio responded with a focus on efficiency and activated its buyback program. Despite the growing pains, Twilio’s APIs remain deeply embedded in the communications infrastructure of the internet. When your phone buzzes with a verification code or delivery notification, there’s a solid chance Twilio is behind it.
