Teckst

Teckst, founded in 2014 by Matthew Tumbleson and Ji Young Choi, established itself as a business-to-customer messaging platform enabling real-time, two-way text and mobile communication. The New York City-based startup was created to allow brands to interact with their customers for service and marketing purposes directly through SMS and other messaging channels. Tumbleson, who served as the initial CEO, brought his experience as the first creative director at Seamless/GrubHub, where he played a role in the company's journey to its 2014 IPO. His background in marketing and digital product was applied to major enterprises like Disney, Johnson & Johnson, and Walmart. Josh Rochlin, an executive with extensive experience in corporate development and a history of leading companies like Xtify to acquisition by IBM, later took on the role of CEO at Teckst in 2018.

The company's core offering was a software platform designed to integrate directly with major CRM systems such as Salesforce, Zendesk, and Oracle. This integration allowed customer service agents to manage and respond to text messages—including SMS, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp—from within their existing workflows, centralizing communication. Key features of the platform included two-way messaging, message personalization, scheduled messaging, analytics, and MMS capabilities. The business model targeted a wide range of clients from startups to large enterprises, providing them with tools for customer support inquiries, like order status checks, and for marketing functions, such as acquisition and retention campaigns. By offering a no-code, intuitive solution, Teckst aimed to reduce customer wait times and replace traditional, less immediate forms of communication.

Teckst secured a total of $8.1 million in funding over three rounds from investors including Zelkova Ventures, Kernel Capital, and Gaingels. A significant seed round in 2016 raised $2.5 million, which was allocated for growth and expansion. The company demonstrated early traction with clients like BarkBox, JackThreads, and Luxe. In December 2019, Teckst was acquired by LiveVox, a cloud-based contact center solutions provider, in a buyout deal. Following the acquisition, Rochlin transitioned to a leadership role at LiveVox, first as General Manager of Digital Engagement and later as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Development.

Keywords: customer communication, business messaging, SMS platform, CRM integration, text message marketing, customer service software, mobile engagement, two-way messaging, human-to-human messaging, contact center solutions, LiveVox acquisition, Matthew Tumbleson, Josh Rochlin, customer support tools, enterprise messaging, chat integration, marketing automation, customer retention, lead generation, digital communication, brand engagement