| Industry | Mobile messaging |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 2013 |
| Founder | Jim Patterson and Zack Parker |
| Hq location | San Francisco |
| Hq location country | US |
| Area served | Global |
| Website | https://www.zinc.it/ |
Zinc Inc. (formerly Cotap Inc., renamed June 2016) was a San Francisco-based enterprise mobile messaging company. Its application was aimed at businesses and, unlike consumer-focused services such as WhatsApp and WeChat that require phone numbers, allowed users to find and message colleagues by corporate email domain.[2] ServiceMax acquired Zinc in 2019 for an undisclosed amount. The company was founded in May 2013 by former Yammer executives Jim Patterson and Zack Parker.[2] That month, Cotap announced it had received $5.5 million in a Series A funding round from Charles River Ventures and Emergence Capital Partners.[3] Cotap received $10M in Series B funding in January 2014.[4]
Cotap released its first app, which is available for iOS, in October 2013.[5] In February 2014 Cotap released a native Android app.[6] In August 2014, Cotap released a Mac and Web app alongside the announcement of cloud storage integrations with Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive.[7] Both iOS and Android apps, as well as the Mac and Web apps, allow users to send individual and group messages.
On raising $5M in a funding round led by Emergence Capital Partners and Charles River Ventures, Cotap changed its name to Zinc and appointed a new Chief Executive, Stacey Epstein.[8]
In April 2017 a further $11M round of investment was raised from GE Ventures, Hearst Ventures and existing investors Emergence & Charles River.[9]
The acquisition by ServiceMax in 2019 was completed for an undisclosed amount.[10]
References
- ^ "Zinc Inc - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg News
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (29 May 2013). "Ex-Yammer Execs Raise $5.5M For CoTap, A Mobile Messaging App Aiming To Be WhatsApp For The Workplace". TechCrunch.
- ^ Nusca, Andrew. "CoTap lands $5.5 million in funding; workplace mobile messaging". ZD Net. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (28 January 2014). "Enterprise Messaging App Cotap Nabs $10M To Make 'Every Worker A Knowledge Worker'". TechCrunch.
- ^ Yeung, Ken (2 October 2013). "Cotap is a mobile messaging app built for the enterprise, coming first to iOS". The Next Web.
- ^ Wells, Antonio. "(New App) Cotap - Work Messaging". AndroidTapp. Archived May 1, 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (27 August 2014). "Cotap, A WhatsApp For The Workplace, Adds Box, Dropbox, Google, OneDrive And Desktop App". TechCrunch.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
- ^ "ServiceMax Acquires Zinc to Expand Service Execution Management Offering"