Twilio to Acquire Customer Data Startup Segment for $3.2Bn

Cloud communications firm Twilio is reportedly planning to acquire a customer data infrastructure startup company for $3.2 billion, reports Forbes. Sources say, however, that the acquisition price could go well over $4 billion. According to Forbes, the price will be partially based on Twilio stock.

While a deal has yet to been finalized by both parties over the weekend, an agreement could be reached by as early as Monday, October 12, 2020, notes Tech Crunch. Should the deal push through, the acquisition would bring together two API companies.

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Reuters states the possible merger comes as the demand for cloud companies surged during the pandemic and companies requiring employees to work from home.

Twilio to Acquire Customer Data Startup Segment

News of Segment’s potential acquisition and partnership comes as the San Francisco-based customer data firm has been more open to offers.

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Founded in 2012, Segment is a cloud data infrastructure that provides clients with a set of APIs that obtain information from different sources.

According to Tech Crunch, the company gets its sources from the CRM tool, customer service applications, and websites that allow a closer look into the habits of an individual. After collecting customer data, Segment condenses this information into a single record.

On the other hand, Twilio is focused on providing its customers with accessibility and functionality of communications in any mobile platform. Forbes states that the firm allows companies to get closer to customers through a bevy of communication tools such as voice, video calls, and text messages.

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However, Tech Crunch states that the company shifted its focus in 2018 by launching Flex, a customer service API. The company also bought SendGrid later in 2018 for $2 billion, expanding its reach towards email marketing API.

With a potential deal underway, Tech Crunch maintains that Twilio could move beyond its core communications offerings to the public.

In a statement by Semil Shah from Haystack, an early-stage venture capital firm, Twilio’s decision to acquire Segment comes at a crucial time with more and more firms looking to gain insight about their customers.

In a blog post, Tech Crunch reports that Shah said, “Segment’s belief was that a traditional CRM wasn’t robust enough for the enterprise to properly manage its pipe. Segment entered to provide customer data infrastructure to offer a more unified experience.”

“Now under the Twilio umbrella, Segment can continue to build key integrations (like they have for Twilio data), which is being used globally inside Fortune 500 companies already,” continued Shah.

Despite news of its potential partnership, both Twilio and Segment have yet to issue a statement on the deal, reveals Reuters.

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