Twilio bought a piece of Zenvia on the day it went public. The American messaging giant agreed to purchase 3.85 million shares in a private placement alongside the IPO. Zenvia was Brazil's version of the same idea: software that lets a company text, call, and chat with its customers at scale. It had started 17 years earlier as a bootstrapped startup in a garage. By 2021 WhatsApp had become the way much of Brazil talked to businesses.

From a Brazilian Garage

Cassio Bobsin, a computer science graduate of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, founded the company and ran it as CEO. Zenvia's platform combined channels like SMS, voice, WhatsApp, Instagram, and webchat with tools like chatbots and journey designers. Customers used it for marketing campaigns, onboarding, warnings, customer service, and fraud control. Zenvia earned most of its revenue from the volume of messages sent. It bought Sirena, a WhatsApp sales tool, in 2020.

Thirteen Dollars, Then Home

Zenvia sold about 11.5 million shares at $13 each in July 2021 and listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market as ZENV. Bobsin and early investors kept about 94 percent of the voting power. In February 2026 Zenvia renegotiated an earnout it owed for Movidesk, then received a Nasdaq notice that it was out of compliance. Days later it announced a voluntary delisting. It left Nasdaq and deregistered with the SEC in March 2026.

Cover: Red Parrot on the Branch of a Tree, Ito Jakuchu. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a parrot (a talking bird, Brazil).