Latest news with #Vis
Asharq Al-Awsat
24-02-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Dutch Software Firm Bird to leave Europe Due to Onerous Regulations in AI Era, Says CEO
Cloud communications software firm Bird, one of the Netherlands' most prominent tech startups, plans to move most of its operations out of Europe, its CEO said, citing restrictive regulations and difficulties hiring skilled technology workers. "We are mostly leaving Europe as it lacks the environment we need to innovate in an AI-first era of technology," CEO Robert Vis told Reuters on Monday. "We foresee that regulations in Europe will block true innovation in a global economy moving extremely fast to AI," he said in a text message response to Reuters queries. Bird's operations in future will be mostly split between New York, Singapore and Dubai, he said, Reuters reported. Vis first announced the move abroad in a LinkedIn post over the weekend. Bird, formerly known as Message Bird, was founded in Amsterdam in 2011. It is a competitor of US-based Twilio in the market for helping companies manage their communications with consumers across digital mediums such as messaging, email and video apps. It says it has developed an AI-powered platform that automates and streamlines business operations across entire organizations including tech leaders. Last year the European Union introduced the world's first comprehensive set of rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, drawing criticism from the United States that European regulations could strangle development of the technology. Vis said Bird will no longer have a single operational headquarters. In Europe, the company will retain an office in Lithuania and the company's tax base will continue to be the Netherlands for the time being. Bird reported a 17 million euro ($17.80 million) net profit in 2023 on sales of 555 million euros, according to its most recent filing with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.
Reuters
24-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Dutch software firm Bird to leave Europe due to onerous regulations in AI era, says CEO
AMSTERDAM, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Cloud communications software firm Bird, one of the Netherlands' most prominent tech startups, plans to move most of its operations out of Europe, its CEO said, citing restrictive regulations and difficulties hiring skilled technology workers. "We are mostly leaving Europe as it lacks the environment we need to innovate in an AI-first era of technology," CEO Robert Vis told Reuters on Monday. "We foresee that regulations in Europe will block true innovation in a global economy moving extremely fast to AI," he said in a text message response to Reuters queries. Bird's operations in future will be mostly split between New York, Singapore and Dubai, he said. Vis first announced the move abroad in a LinkedIn post over the weekend. Bird, formerly known as Message Bird, was founded in Amsterdam in 2011. It is a competitor of U.S.-based Twilio (TWLO.N), opens new tab in the market for helping companies manage their communications with consumers across digital mediums such as messaging, email and video apps. It says it has developed an AI-powered platform that automates and streamlines business operations across entire organizations including tech leaders. Last year the European Union introduced the world's first comprehensive set of rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, drawing criticism from the United States that European regulations could strangle development of the technology. Vis said Bird will no longer have a single operational headquarters. In Europe, the company will retain an office in Lithuania and the company's tax base will continue to be the Netherlands for the time being. Bird reported a 17 million euro ($17.80 million) net profit in 2023 on sales of 555 million euros, according to its most recent filing with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. ($1 = 0.9552 euros)
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bird cuts 120 jobs as part of 'strategic realignment'
Cloud communication service Bird has cut 120 jobs -- roughly one-third of its total workforce. The Amsterdam-based firm -- formerly known as MessageBird -- plans to realign its global operations amid the ongoing AI boom, TechCrunch has exclusively learned. Bird has since confirmed the news. The Dutch startup contacted impacted employees on Friday. The move comes just a year after Bird cut 90 employees following its rebrand. The company also slashed prices at the time in an effort to take on the likes of Twilio, Klaviyo, and Attentive. The startup offers a CRM (customer relationship management) platform for marketing, sales, and payments via email, SMS, and WhatsApp. Bird founder and CEO Robert Vis confirmed the number of employees impacted, adding that most of the roles were in Europe. "While Bird was founded in Amsterdam and built strong European roots, our customer footprint has grown significantly in the Americas and Asia. This realignment will position our teams closer to our customers, enabling us to better serve them in their local time zones and cultural contexts," Vis said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch. The startup counts Meta, PayPal, Square, and Uber as its key customers. It offers a unified solution to let businesses communicate with their customers via different channels, including email, SMS, voice, and WhatsApp. Vis asserted the layoffs were "not a cost-reduction exercise" as the startup's "financials remain strong." Instead, AI adoption has contributed to the reduction of roles. The list of similarly impacted companies includes Sprinklr, Workday, and Okta. "The changes will help us return to the agile, focused model that drove our early success — starting with SMS and expanding to become one of the world's largest providers of business communications solutions," Vis said. The executive stated that the affected employees would receive "comprehensive transition support" without sharing specifics on the severance. In 2021, Bird raised $800 million in a Series C extension featuring Tiger Global, Eurazeo, and Owl Rock. That followed a $240 million round that valued the startup at $3 billion. The startup acquired email marketing platform SparkPost in 2021 for $600 million. Sign in to access your portfolio
