Following Series B funding, Sendbird wanted to aggressively grow non-US revenue, starting in EMEA. They needed to establish a presence and build a revenue engine outside of the domestic market without diverting local resources.
Sendbird wanted to focus on the UK and Continental Europe initially but didn’t have the expertise to set up operations and hire teams in those jurisdictions. They needed to avoid the risk associated with launching in an unfamiliar territory.
Company: Sendbird
CEO: John S. Kim
VP Sales: Justin Smith
Founded: 2013
HQ: California, USA
Sector: SaaS / API / SDK / Chat
Date: March 2019
Stage: Series B
Headcount: Circa 100 staff in the US
Plan: International expansion
Aim: Open and develop EMEA markets
Date: October 2021
New hires: 29
EV: From $1 billion+
Download a PDF copy and learn more about how SOLA helped to launch Sendbird's EMEA expansion.
After initial discussions and diagnoses, SOLA designed a detailed scope and project plan. SOLA leaders visited Sendbird’s offices in the US for a deep dive into the company’s purpose, mission, vision and values as well as the key drivers for success.
From that work, the SOLA team developed an employee value proposition to help them present Sendbird to prospective candidates. And a strategic gameplan and timeline were agreed.
SOLA deployed its SOLAarc Incubator solution,
creating a “virtual subsidiary” to support Sendbird’s EMEA expansion. This included:
After initial discussions and diagnoses, SOLA designed a detailed scope and project plan.
SOLA leaders visited Sendbird's offices in the US for a deep dive into the company's purpose, mission, vision and values as well as the key drivers for success.
From that work, the SOLA team developed an employee value proposition to help them present Sendbird to prospective candidates. And a strategic gameplan and timeline were agreed.
SOLA deployed its SOLAarc Incubator solution, creating a "virtual subsidiary" to support Sendbird’s EMEA expansion. This included:
Download a PDF copy and learn more about how SOLA helped to launch Sendbird's EMEA expansion.
Identified and secured a Strategic Account Executive and a Sales Engineer “Batman & Robin” team that had worked together previously & were perfectly suited to SendBird. Set up the employment and payroll landscape for the Virtual Subsidiary and onboarded the team of two.
Proof of concept achieved in UK with initial sales. Growth continued, scaling into Germany as well as further growth in the UK. SOLA curated a further team of 5, so 7 employees now in place.
Doubled employee numbers to 14. Steady growth continued. Developed employee engagement & bespoke benefits packages, policies and processes, as well as further salary benchmarking.
Growth of 7 more employees to 21 across the UK & Germany. Enhanced Parental Leave policy introduced.
Sendbird had successfully accessed and opened up the EMEA market and established a non-US revenue engine. Customers reached 1,000+. EV reached $1B+.
De-Incubated: compliantly transferred Incubatees out of SOLA Virtual Subsidiary into Sendbird’s own UK subsidiary.
YK (Yaekyum) Lee, Global Head of CX