Twilio invests $750 million in Syniverse

Communications platform Twilio has become a significant minority owner of telecoms transaction processor Syniverse with a $750 million investment, which it describes as a strategic partnership.

Syniverse concurrently raised $1.025 billion in new term loan debt and $340 million in new preferred equity, the proceeds of which were primarily used to reduce leverage and were apparently required under the terms of the transaction with Twilio.

Syniverse says will benefit from Twilio’s experience in the enterprise market as it looks to ‘capitalise on the next wave of growth in digital communications.’

“This transaction provides Syniverse with the enhanced liquidity and financial flexibility that will enable us to accelerate investment in innovation, product quality, and breadth to benefit our enterprise and carrier customers around the world,” said Syniverse’s Chief Executive Officer Andrew Davies. “Our partnership with Twilio, combined with our enhanced balance sheet following this new infusion of capital, leaves us well positioned to more effectively monetize the 5G and CPaaS revolutions, deepen our engagement with our customers across key industry verticals and create long-term value and opportunity for all our stakeholders.”

Simon Khalaf, Twilio’s SVP and GM of Communications Platform added: “We are pleased to have closed this partnership and investment to accelerate the next wave of innovation in mobile communications and drive long-term growth.”

It’s a short and sharp release and there isn’t much detail on exactly how the partnership will work or what capitalising on the next wave of communications might mean, but it sounds like whatever the plan is, it is partly based on messaging capabilities that might be enhanced with 5G.

We want to know what you think about 5G. Click here to take part in our 5G survey and be in with a chance to win a top Yeti cooler.