SendGrid

SendGrid provides a cloud platform that lets developers and marketers send transactional and marketing email at scale through an email API and a marketing campaigns product, handling deliverability, authentication, link tracking and reporting. Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez and Tim Jenkins founded the company in 2009, and it was incorporated in Delaware in July 2009. It went through the 2009 Techstars accelerator program, which the company later credited with much of its early success. Its headquarters are in Denver, Colorado. Sameer Dholakia, formerly of Citrix, became chief executive in September 2014. By its IPO the company said it had processed more than one trillion emails since inception.

In December 2009 SendGrid raised $750,000 in a round led by Highway 12 Ventures, with SoftTech VC, FF Angel and Techstars founder David Cohen participating. In April 2010 it raised a $5 million Series A from Foundry Group, SoftTech VC and Highway 12 Ventures, and Foundry co-founder Ryan McIntyre joined the board. Bessemer Venture Partners led a $21 million Series B in January 2012. Bain Capital Ventures, a new investor, led a $20 million Series C in December 2014, with Bessemer and Foundry Group participating, and led again in a $33 million Series D in November 2016. Before the IPO, Foundry Group funds held 30.1% of shares, Bessemer entities 22.4%, Highway 12 Ventures 13.9% and Bain Capital Ventures 7.6%.

SendGrid priced its initial public offering on November 15, 2017 at $16 per share, selling 8.2 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SEND for gross proceeds of $131.2 million, with Bessemer entities agreeing to buy 625,000 shares in the offering. Revenue was $79.9 million in 2016 and $80.2 million in the first nine months of 2017. Twilio announced an all-stock acquisition in October 2018 and completed it on February 1, 2019, after both companies' stockholders approved it. Twilio valued the transaction at about $3 billion, with SendGrid holders receiving 0.485 Twilio shares, about $53.99 of value, per share. SendGrid now operates as part of Twilio, which said in February 2026 that the SendGrid website would be merged into Twilio.com.

SendGrid is an example of a Colorado accelerator company reaching a public listing and a strategic sale within ten years. Highway 12 Ventures and Foundry Group entered at the seed and Series A stage in 2009 and 2010, and held large positions through the IPO. The total disclosed venture funding of roughly $80 million is small relative to the $3 billion exit value, and the sale to Twilio came just 14 months after the IPO, at more than three times the $16 offer price.