Lee Dong-wook, CEO of Jabber

“Jabber has grown into a ‘one-to-many communication service’ that provides beneficial information to customers rather than advertising messages.”

Jabber is a startup that supports corporate marketing by sending messages not only to internal employees but also to customers. It was founded in 2017 by CEO Lee Dong-wook, who was in charge of service planning at the Information Technology Solutions Division of Samsung Electronics.

CEO Lee explained the background of the company's founding, stating, “There are many one-to-one communication tools, but there were none for one-to-many communication.” He continued, “If one employee wanted to convey an important message to hundreds of partners, they had to send an email to each one individually, but with Jabber, it can be done easily and quickly all at once.”

Jabber can send messages through channels preferred by clients, such as KakaoTalk, text messages, and emails. Currently, Jabber serves clients including Hana Bank, KT, Hyundai Mobis, Mercedes-Benz Korea, Kyobo DTS, and Karrot. Its revenue has been doubling every year recently, and it has raised approximately 2 billion won in cumulative funding.

Jabber's core competitiveness lies in its ability to send various messages, including texts, images, and videos, to many recipients easily and quickly as long as there is a phone number, without limits on file formats or quantities. It allows real-time confirmation of receipt and feedback.

In fact, Hana Bank uses Jabber to provide notification services to customers regarding deposit maturities and major event notifications such as golf events. CEO Lee noted, “While there are mobile applications (apps), the process of downloading and logging in can be somewhat cumbersome,” adding, “Jabber allows for direct communication with customers, resulting in a receipt rate that is more than three times higher than that of apps.”

Another client, KT, sends various information related to communication fees to a large number of agencies across the country through Jabber. In particular, KT can immediately know whether an agency has checked a message, and if agencies have any questions, they can inquire directly via Jabber.

CEO Lee stated that there is a fundamental principle in Jabber's communication service that is also the secret to its growth. He said, “Jabber does not send advertising messages just to sell products,” and emphasized that it provides information that is useful and necessary for the receiving customers. He added, “Providing beneficial information to customers is the best communication marketing,” and warned that “if customers receive unnecessary messages continuously from a corporation, they will block future messages from that corporation, and such communication marketing will have a counterproductive effect.”

Jabber does not only serve large corporations. It provides services to any organization managing customers, including somewhat smaller businesses like tax offices, academies, and hair salons. CEO Lee said, “For small business owners and small and medium enterprises, managing regular customers is crucial,” adding, “We provide optimal customer communication services for them.” According to CEO Lee, many small and medium enterprises and small business owners that have used Jabber's services have seen their sales grow by more than double.

Jabber is also preparing to expand overseas, including in the United States and Japan. CEO Lee stated, “We plan to launch a message sending service in collaboration with local messengers like WhatsApp in the U.S. and LINE in Japan,” and added, “We aim to grow into a global one-to-many communication corporation.”