Twilio has culled its Zipwhip solution, despite only acquiring the software in May 2021.
The news will surprise many. After all, the acquisition was an $850M mega deal.
It also empowered Twilio customers to access an out-of-the-box business texting platform, for which Twilio cannot offer an oven-ready alternative.
As a result, it cannot provide a simple migration path for its 30,000 Zipwhip customers after its services shut down.
Twilio suggests that businesses consider Podium, Voxie, or Text Request as possible replacements. These are its long-time partners.
Alternatively, there is somewhat of a crossover with Twilio Frontline – now generally available – which allows businesses to fit texting into their workflows using customizable APIs.
As such, perhaps not all was in vain, as the Zipwhip team's expertise may have helped build out these SMS capabilities and maybe those of Flex – its CCaaS solution – too.
What Went Wrong for Twilio Zipwhip?
In Q2, Zipwhip contributed $34 million to Twilio's revenue. During the earnings call just four months ago, the Twilio c-suite still seemed optimistic regarding its potential.
"We feel great about the Zipwhip product," said Khozema Shipchandler, COO at Twilio. "I think we feel even better about the Zipwhip team. I think they've integrated really nicely into the business."
"The business performance, as I said, is going really, really well. Obviously, there's an A2P fee component there, too, which we break out for you all. But I really have nothing but very positive things to say about how Zipwhip has been performing."
So, what has happened in the last four months for Twilio to drop Zipwhip altogether?
Economic uncertainty is the obvious answer, with many CX vendors battening down the hatches as a recession looms.