Viber
Viber’s Rise from 0 Users to $900M Exit
Every entrepreneur dreams of becoming a success story, but few will achieve it
Challenge
Our journey with Viber began in 2010 when a friend recommended Ayelet, our CEO and Founder, to them. The company reached out to us in order to run its PR efforts for the launch of its promising app. We joined Viber on the journey of a lifetime as it grew from a young startup to a thriving tech company, and finally as it completed its $900 million exit to Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten.
Process
Our strategies ranged from the traditional to the creative, and even downright crazy. But in the end, the most important decision was finding a path that made the most sense for Viber.
The Viber team decided to start with a soft launch in a market that was willing to try a new app, and to experiment with what was then a brand new way to register with a voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) app — with your phone number. That led them to launch in Israel. Israel was also a good market because it’s a small country and since in order to enjoy Viber you needed your friends and family to use it too, the app’s adoption spread like wildfire.
Within 48 hours of the Israel launch, Viber became the #1 app in the Israeli app store
Solution
Strike while the iron is hot. We expedited our global launch to keep our story top of mind for users and influencers. We understood the importance of keeping a continuous spiral of virality since in order to enjoy the app it was required that your community be on it too.
Results
- We continuously got coverage for Viber on an on-going basis for four years in major top tier publications all over the globe, including the US, Europe, and Asia
- We organized meetings with journalists from publications such as NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Mashable, CNN, CNET, TechCrunch, and more, which put Viber on the map. We even made a Fox News interview happen
- We created long lasting relationships with journalists who continued to support the brand throughout all its years
- After a mere four years of continuous coverage, Viber was acquired for $900 million by Japanese Internet Giant Rakuten
- News of the acquisition resulted in thousands of articles across mainstream media and influential tech and business outlets
- The app had over 300 million registered users when Rakuten acquired it
- Viber grew to be one of the top five most downloaded smartphone phone call and messaging apps
Coverage
As featured in
“"It’s also the latest evolution for Viber, which began as another way for iPhone users to make phone calls. It quickly moved into messaging, an area that exploded in popularity with the rise of services including WhatsApp, Snapchat and an array of competitors. But Viber is betting that it is on a path to success, even after being acquired by Rakuten. The company now says it has some 460 million unique users around the world."”Read article →
“"As messaging apps are getting more competitive, Viber has more than 200 million users and just announced the launch of its new public chats. The Founder & CEO Talmon Marco told us about in a Fox Business Exclusive, where he says that this is elevating the chatting experience to the next level."”Read article →
“"Talmon Marco, founder and CEO of the messaging and voice call app Viber, knows this all too well, and that's why his company is introducing what it calls Public Chats, a new Viber feature that makes it easier to see what our favorite celebrities and public personalities are chatting about. It aims to feed the inner eavesdropper in all of us."”Read article →
“"We launched full end-to-end encryption in 2016 along with secret chats and a self-destruct timer for messages to be deleted from all devices automatically, because we felt that private conversations should be just that - private. Additionally we are complying with all aspects of the European Union’s upcoming GDPR to make sure that everyone is safe and secure on Viber."”Read article →
“"Messaging app Viber is today announcing a new feature that taps into the bigger trend of messaging apps becoming multi-functional platforms, and also its ownership by e-commerce company Rakuten. Viber will start to present users with items for sale, inspired by your current chat, when you press a small shopping bag icon at the bottom of the screen and search for items."”Read article →
“"After adding video calling to its mobile apps late last year, Viber has come to Chrome OS. Viber for Chrome OS makes text, voice and video chats available to Chromebook and Chromebox users. Voice and video calls between Viber users are free, while calls to landline numbers have a fee."”Read article →
“"Viber Media Inc, which Rakuten acquired for $900 million in 2014, had 823 million registered users as of September 2016. Calls between Viber users are free, but calls to non-users or landline numbers are usually charged."”Read article →
