Viber
Viber is a company.
Active
Updated: ·
Financial History
Total Raised
N/A
Valuation
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Leadership Team
Key people at Viber.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Viber?
Viber was founded by Talmon Marco (Co-founder).
Viber is a company.
Key people at Viber.
Viber was founded by Talmon Marco (Co-founder).
Viber was founded by Talmon Marco (Co-founder).
Viber is a global messaging and VoIP app (owned by Rakuten since 2014) that provides voice/video calling, messaging, and business messaging services to consumers and enterprises worldwide.[2][1]
High‑Level Overview
Viber builds a cross‑platform communication app that combines voice and video calls, one‑to‑one and group messaging, stickers and media sharing, and business messaging tools for verified companies and enterprises.[2][1] It serves consumers who want phone‑number‑based, cross‑device messaging and calling (mobile and desktop) and businesses that need conversational and transactional messaging (customer support, notifications, marketing) via Viber’s business channels and API offerings.[1][2] The product addresses the problem of low‑cost international calling and secure, convenient messaging while also offering monetization for creators and brands (stickers, Viber Out paid calling, and paid business messaging).[1][2] Since its 2010 launch and acquisition by Rakuten in 2014, Viber has remained an important regional player (notably in parts of Europe, the CIS, and Asia) with continued user growth and focus on business messaging and platform features.[2][1]
Origin Story
Viber was founded in 2010 by Talmon Marco and Igor Magazinnik (both serial entrepreneurs with prior experience including iMesh) and initially focused on free VoIP calls for smartphones, later expanding into full messaging features and stickers.[2][3] The company was developed with early private/friends‑and‑family funding (reported ~ $20M) and scaled through 2012–2013 as it added Android, messaging, a sticker store, and Viber Out for paid international calls.[1][2][3] In February 2014 Japanese internet group Rakuten acquired Viber for about $900 million, after which the service continued to evolve under Rakuten ownership and rebranded as Rakuten Viber in 2017.[2][4]
Core Differentiators
Role in the Broader Tech Landscape
Viber rides multiple durable trends: mobile‑first, phone‑number‑centric messaging; growing demand for low‑cost international communications; and enterprise adoption of conversational messaging for customer engagement.[3][1] Timing mattered because smartphone penetration and international migration in the 2010s created a large market for inexpensive cross‑border calls and messaging, which Viber targeted early.[4] Market forces favor platforms that combine strong regional networks with business messaging monetization—areas where Viber competes effectively against global platforms in certain geographies.[3][1] Its presence under Rakuten also enables integration with broader e‑commerce and services ecosystems, which can increase enterprise adoption and cross‑platform synergies.[4]
Quick Take & Future Outlook
Viber’s near‑term path is likely to emphasize growth of business messaging, richer conversational commerce features, and deeper integration within Rakuten’s ecosystem to drive monetization and retention in its strong regional markets.[1][3][4] Key trends shaping its journey include continued enterprise migration to app‑based customer engagement, privacy/security expectations for messaging, and competitive pressure from large global rivals (WhatsApp, Telegram) and niche secure messengers. If Viber sustains product differentiation on voice quality, regional market leadership, and business APIs, it can remain a durable regional champion even without global dominance. The company’s evolution from a calling app to a platform for consumer and business messaging illustrates how timing, focused product differentiation, and an acquirer with complementary assets (Rakuten) can turn a specialized utility into a broader communications platform.[3][4]
Key people at Viber.
