Thinking Phone Networks
| Private | |
| Industry | Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Founders |
Steven Kokinos Derek Yoo |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, MA, USA |
Number of locations |
Cambridge, MA USA Ottawa, Ontario, CA Amsterdam, Netherlands New York, NY Portugal Paris, France San Francisco Palo Alto Seattle Paris UK Switzerland |
Key people |
Steve Kokinos Derek Yoo Andy Byron Don Pratt |
| Products |
Enterprise Communications (VoIP) Mobile Communication Instant Message and Presence Contact Centers Contextual Communication Video and Audio Conferencing |
Number of employees | 700 |
| Website |
Fuze,[1] formerly Thinking Phone Networks,[2] is a provider of cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS). The company is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has offices in New York, NY; Ottawa, Canada; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; London, U.K.; Paris, France; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Portugal.
Products
The company's main product combines business voice, video, text (SMS),[3] instant messaging and presence indication under one cloud service delivered both to traditional desk phones and mobile devices. Services like this can be used to replace a company's existing private branch exchange (PBX) typically located in the building with a cloud or IP PBX.[4]
The company also provides a hosted contact center marketed to customer support and sales operations.
History
ThinkingPhones was founded in 2006 by a founder and former executive of BladeLogic (acquired by BMC Software in 2008 for $854 million USD), Steven Kokinos and Derek Yoo. Originally marketed as a business VoIP or hosted PBX replacement service for mid-market and enterprise customers, the company expanded its services to provide messaging, presence, and video services and is now marketed within the unified communications industry.
In 2010, ThinkingPhones launched one of the first mobile business phone applications on the iOS store and then later released an Android version of its service.
The company has received a total of nearly $200 million dollars of funding with the most recent round of $112 million in February 2016.[5] The previous round was $56.7 million of funding in December 2014.[6][7][8] Investors include Technology Crossover Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures, g20 and several investors including one of the earliest employees of Facebook.
The company acquired Whaleback Managed Services,[9] another provider of business phone services and relaunched its brand name to ThinkingPhones in 2014.
In 2015, ThinkingPhones acquired Contactive,[10] a big data solution that connects profiles and identities created by people and businesses online and associates them with a telephone number to create an identity graph.
In 2015, the company also acquired Fuze Box,[11] a video conferencing solution to enhance its cloud communications offerings. The company later announced it was renaming to Fuze in February 2016 to better reflect its core offerings.[12]
Awards and recognition
- Thinking Phone Networks was named one of the leaders in the Gartner Unified Communications as a Service Magic Quadrant in 2012, 2013 and again in 2014.[13][14][15]
- The company was named the Internet Telephony product of the year in 2014.[16]
- The company was named the Frost & Sullivan company of the year in 2013.[17]
See also
References
- ↑ "Why Boston Startup ThinkingPhones Renamed Itself Fuze After Raising $112 Million". 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "Thinking Phone Networks". CrunchBase. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Thinking Phones Upgrades Mobile UCaaS App for Android". Channel Partners Online. 18 August 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ↑ "Thinking Phone Networks Cloud VoIP Assessment". IT Toolbox. 4 April 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ↑ "ThinkingPhones gets $112M, renames itself Fuze to modernize office communication". BetaBoston. 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "Thinking Phone Networks raises $16.5m in round led by ATV, Bessemer Venture Partners". Boston.com. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Thinking Phone Networks Raises $10 Million Series C Funding to Grow UCaaS in the Global Market". BostonInno. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "ThinkingPhones Calls Up $56M to Unify Communications in the Mobile Age". Xconomy. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Thinking Phone Networks snaps up Whaleback Managed Services, enhances UCaaS play". FierceTelecom. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "ThinkingPhones Acquires Contactive--Telephony Playing Catch-up". Forbes. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
- ↑ "ThinkingPhones Acquires Leading Cloud Video Conferencing Company Fuze". Yahoo. 16 November 2015. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "Why Boston Startup ThinkingPhones Renamed Itself Fuze After Raising $112 Million". 9 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ "UCaaS Magic Quadrant: Providers not ready for large enterprises". TechTarget, SearchUnified. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Gartner ranks UCaaS leaders". Unified Communications InSights. 9 September 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service, North America". Gartner. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Announcing the 2014 INTERNET TELEPHONY Product of the Year Award Winners". TMC News. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
- ↑ "Frost & Sullivan Honors Thinking Phone for its Impressive Growth Strategy and Highly Effective Execution". Frost & Sullivan. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
