SendHub provides an app-based business phone system that integrates with employees' smartphones to keep business messages, voicemails, calls and contacts in a secure mobile application. Users can activate new phone lines, manage multiple accounts and monitor usage trends through a web-based administration console. The company is led by CEO Ash Rust and counts customers such as Lyft, Asana, Doblet and Goldbely. SendHub raised $5M in a Series B and has raised $10M in total to date. The company intends to use the funds to enhance its product, scale marketing and engineering efforts, and expand its integration and partnership offering. Operations are based in Menlo Park, California. SendHub offers a business-focused call and messaging solution that provides phone numbers (including toll-free), call routing to personal cell phones, voicemail transcription, call forwarding/transfer, contact sharing, group texting, SMS short codes and file attachments via SMS. The product is delivered via mobile apps (iOS and Android) and an online dashboard; the company says about 60 percent of users are on mobile daily. SendHub began as a messaging platform for teachers after launching out of Y Combinator’s Winter 2012 class, but has focused on monetizing through businesses. The company reports roughly 150,000 users, about 15,000 small-to-medium business customers (typically ~6 lines each), and averages $50,000+ in revenue per month with recent growth over 25% month-over-month. A few customers already run more than 100 lines on the platform, and the company lists customers such as Arizona State University, March of Dimes, HireArt, InstantCab and Academica. Planned product and go-to-market moves include building dashboard and compliance features for larger companies by Q1 2014, launching an Android tablet app, expanding inside sales and engineering, and taking the service to Canada and across the Americas over the next 12 months. SendHub provides a web and mobile messaging service (built on Twilio) that enables businesses and teachers to send and receive SMS via opt-in keywords. The company offers a freemium model with paid premium tiers that allow more messages and contacts; within the first month of offering premium plans it recorded $62,000 in revenue. Usage has been growing quickly: SendHub reported 30,000 messages per month in February, 30,000 per week in March, and says it has been aiming for and exceeding over 10% week-over-week message and user growth. The team was five people at the time of the article and had recently added engineers and a designer. Roadmap priorities include hiring, launching enterprise-friendly features, and “moving up the food chain” to compete with the U.S. landline market. The company was based in Mountain View and planning to move to Palo Alto. SendHub offers a freemium SMS platform that lets businesses and organizations send texts via a web interface or any mobile phone and assigns ten-digit numbers so messages appear local. The service is built on Twilio’s voice platform and uses keyword-based opt-ins and a mobile-optimized site where recipients can rate messages and block senders. SendHub provides analytics and plans an upgrade to include delivery, click-through, block stats and social sharing; it also plans an iPhone app launch in early March. The company reports several hundred customers, about 30,000 SMS sent per month, and roughly 40% monthly active users, with rapid growth (3x in January and a further 45% month-to-date). The product includes a free teacher tier (150 contacts, 1,000 messages/month) and paid plans at $10, $50, and $150 per month with larger contact caps. SendHub has raised roughly $300,000 from early backers to support product development and growth.

Total raised

$10M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Nov 2014