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Twilio to acquire Seattle business texting startup Zipwhip for $850M May 17, 2021 at 3:14 pm Zipwhip CEO John Lauer shows off the company’s Texterator, a text-enabled beer bot that made its debut at the 2016 GeekWire Gala. (Zipwhip Photo) Twilio, a communications software company with Seattle roots, is acquiring Seattle-based business-texting startup Zipwhip for approximately $850 million in a cash and stock deal, the companies announced Monday. Founded in 2007, Zipwhip originally targeted consumers and set out to be the “Facebook of text messaging.” But it pivoted around 2013, taking a different approach by working with wireless carriers to enable hundreds of millions of business landlines to receive and send text messages. This allowed companies to text with their customers from landline phones, VoIP services, and toll-free numbers. ....