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SayNow developed a mobile communication platform that facilitated direct, interactive engagement through voice and text messaging. The company focused on creating social voice-based experiences, enabling public figures to connect seamlessly with their audiences. Its technology provided a unified system for communication across mobile phones and web platforms.
Founded in 2005 by Ujjwal Singh and Nikhyl Singhal, SayNow emerged from an insight into mobile technology's potential to foster direct, social interactions. The founders aimed to build innovative voice-based services, recognizing an opportunity to bridge the communication gap between influential figures and their followers.
SayNow primarily served public figures, including celebrities and musicians, and their dedicated fan bases seeking more intimate and interactive communication channels. The company's long-term vision centered on continually exploring entertaining methods for people to engage through voice, aspiring to make mobile devices central to dynamic, social connections.
SayNow has raised $8.0M across 1 funding round.
SayNow has raised $8.0M in total across 1 funding round.
SayNow has raised $8.0M in total across 1 funding round.
SayNow's investors include Shasta Ventures.
SayNow was a Palo Alto-based technology company founded in 2005 that built a social voice platform connecting celebrities, brands, and fans through voice messaging, group calls, and user-to-user conversations.[1][2] It served celebrities like Soulja Boy, broadcasters, and fans, solving the problem of direct, engaging voice interactions via phone numbers integrated with social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Android, and iPhone apps.[1][2][3] The platform enabled revenue through sponsorships in messages and hit milestones like 50 million calls to Soulja Boy's SayNow number, amassing 15 million users before its acquisition by Google in January 2010 for an undisclosed amount after raising $7.5 million from investors including Shasta Ventures, Tugboat Ventures, and Felicis.[1][2]
SayNow was founded in 2005 by Ujjwal Singh and Nikhyl Singhal in Palo Alto, California, at 299 South California Street.[1][2] The idea emerged from exploring "fun and entertaining ways for people to talk with each other" across web, smartphones, and landlines, focusing on voice to build communities.[2] Early traction came from celebrity adoption, such as Soulja Boy's phone number (678-999-8212) featured in his hit single *Kiss Me Through the Phone*, which became the most-called seven-digit number ever with 50 million calls, and integrations with social media plus APIs for developers.[2][3] A pivotal moment was the January 2010 acquisition by Google, where founders joined the Google Voice team to innovate further, with no immediate product plans announced.[1][2][3]
SayNow rode the early 2000s wave of social telephony, blending voice communication with emerging social media at a time when platforms like Facebook and Twitter were exploding alongside smartphone adoption.[2][3] Timing was ideal post-2005, as mobile internet and app ecosystems matured, enabling voice as a "new stream of revenue" for celebrities amid MySpace's peak and Android/iPhone launches.[2] Market forces like demand for authentic fan engagement favored it, influencing the ecosystem by pioneering voice APIs that prefigured modern social audio (e.g., Clubhouse precursors) and feeding into Google's voice tech expansion via Google Voice and Android.[3] Its acquisition accelerated Google's push into unified communications, merging with services for number porting and voicemail.[3]
Post-2010 acquisition, SayNow's tech integrated into Google Voice, likely enhancing features like group messaging and social voice without standalone products emerging publicly.[2][3][4] Looking ahead from 2025, its legacy endures in Google's communication stack—e.g., RCS, Duo/Meet evolutions, and AI voice tools—amid trends like conversational AI and WebRTC. Influence may evolve through subtle contributions to Google's ecosystem dominance in voice AI, as social audio rebounds with podcasts and live streams, tying back to SayNow's original hook of voice-powered celebrity-fan bonds now scaled globally.[1][2]
SayNow has raised $8.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $8.0M Series A in August 2007.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 1, 2007 | $8.0M Series A | Shasta Ventures |