125m

Apps, Enterprise, Startups

Automattic, WordPress.com’s Owner, Purchases Beeper Messaging App for $125M

WordPress.com owner Automattic is acquiring Beeper, the company behind the iMessage-on-Android solution that was referenced by the Department of Justice in its antitrust lawsuit against Apple. One of the reasons why there are no other people building this type of app is it costs a surprisingly large amount of money to build a damn good chat app,” Migicovsky noted. As for Beeper’s products, the company has now briefed the DOJ on what happened when Apple blocked its newer app, Beeper Mini, which aimed to bring iMessage to Android. Beeper on Android launches to allThe company is instead releasing an updated version of its core app, Beeper, on Android. In this rewritten version of Beeper, the company is starting to roll out fully end-to-end encrypted messages across Signal.

Kira Kim
April 9, 2024

Enterprise, Fintech

Vestwell secures $125M investment to enhance workplace savings programs for businesses

Vestwell, which provides the infrastructure for employers to power workplace savings programs, has raised $125 million in what the company describes as a “preempted” round of funding. Vestwell CEO Aaron Schumm started the company in 2016 and launched the cloud-native platform in 2017. Over 1 million people working across 300,000 businesses use the Vestwell platform, which the company said has helped power the savings of nearly $30 billion in assets over time. As an extension of its partners, Vestwell says it enables a suite of programs, including retirement, health and education, such as 401(k), 403(b), IRA, 529 Education, ABLE disability and Emergency Savings programs. “We’re now the leading partner in this field, and currently power 80% of the live state auto-IRA savings programs in this country,” he said.