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BroadSoft has raised $77.0M across 5 funding rounds.
Key people at BroadSoft.
BroadSoft has raised $77.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
BroadSoft is a Gaithersburg, Maryland-based software company that provides cloud-based unified communications, voice, video, web conferencing, and team messaging solutions to telecommunications service providers. The company's core platforms, which include BroadWorks for telephony and BroadCloud for fully managed services, support real-time communications over IP networks for more than 500 million subscribers globally. BroadSoft delivers its unified communications as a service technology through a global network of over 500 service providers, including major telecommunications operators such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, and Vodafone. After operating as a publicly traded entity on the NASDAQ following its 2010 initial public offering, the enterprise was acquired by Cisco Systems in February 2018 for approximately $2 billion. The organization was originally established under the name iKnow before being officially founded as BroadSoft in 1998 by co-founders Michael Tessler and Scott Hoffpauir.
Key people at BroadSoft.
BroadSoft has raised $77.0M across 5 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $10.0M Series D in July 2007.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 1, 2007 | $10M Series D | — | Bessemer Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures, RRE Ventures | Announced |
| Jan 1, 2004 | $6M Series C | — | Bessemer Venture Partners | Announced |
| Sep 1, 2002 | $33M Series C | — | Bessemer Venture Partners, RRE Ventures | Announced |
| Jun 1, 2000 | $23M Series B | — | Bessemer Venture Partners | Announced |
| May 1, 1999 | $5M Series A | — | Bessemer Venture Partners | Announced |
BroadSoft has raised $77.0M in total across 5 funding rounds.
BroadSoft's investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Comcast Ventures, RRE Ventures.
BroadSoft was a pioneering technology company that built cloud-based unified communications as a service (UCaaS) platforms, primarily BroadWorks and BroadCloud, enabling service providers to deliver VoIP, voice, video, messaging, and collaboration solutions to businesses worldwide[1][2][3][5]. It served over 500 vendors and resellers, including major carriers like AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, BT, and Singtel, powering services for millions of subscribers across 80+ countries and holding a 41% market share as the UCaaS industry leader[2][3][4][5]. BroadSoft solved the challenge of scalable, carrier-grade enterprise communications in a pre-SaaS era, growing from startup to $500M ARR, a 2010 Nasdaq IPO, and a $1.9B acquisition by Cisco in 2018[1][3][6].
BroadSoft was founded in 1998 by Scott D. Hoffpauir and Michael Tessler, predating mainstream SaaS and cloud terms, with a novel approach of selling enterprise communications tech through service providers who white-labeled it[1][2]. The idea emerged from recognizing the need for coordinated information transmission software for VoIP and next-gen networks, leading to early innovation in cloud UC systems like the UC-One platform[2]. Pivotal moments included hitting $100M revenue by its 2010 IPO, expanding to 2,000 employees in 23 countries, acquisitions like Reston (2016) for mobile messaging and Intellinote (rebranded Team-One) to bolster UCaaS/messaging, and selection as Sprint's VoLTE supplier in 2014[1][2][4][5].
BroadSoft rode the shift from on-premises telephony to cloud UCaaS, enabling telecom carriers to offer flexible, enterprise-grade voice/video/messaging amid rising remote work and IP convergence[1][3][6]. Timing was ideal: founded pre-cloud boom, it filled gaps for providers like Verizon in VoLTE/multimedia networks while Cisco sought UCaaS to complement Webex/Spark against rivals like RingCentral, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom—acquiring it halved the cost of alternatives[4][6]. It influenced the ecosystem by powering global service providers, standardizing cloud comms delivery, and accelerating carrier adoption of hosted solutions over legacy systems[3][5].
Post-2018 Cisco acquisition, BroadSoft's tech lives on as Cisco BroadWorks, integrated into Cisco's collaboration portfolio for ongoing UCaaS dominance via partners like Vonage and Spectrum[3][6]. Next steps likely involve deeper AI enhancements, hybrid work integrations, and 5G/edge expansions to counter Teams/Zoom. Trends like multivendor UC shifts and cost pressures may drive migrations to alternatives like Intermedia, but Cisco's scale positions BroadWorks for sustained leadership in carrier cloud comms[6]. BroadSoft's pre-SaaS path from 1998 startup to $2B exit exemplifies how early cloud bets reshaped enterprise communications.
