MessageDesk Revenue & Funding (2024)

MessageDesk generated approximately $168,000 in annualized revenue as of mid-2021, up from roughly $180,000 on an annualized basis in 2020, though the more granular monthly figures tell a clearer story of the company's trajectory. The company launched commercially in February 2020 with $200 in monthly recurring revenue and reached approximately $15,000 in MRR by the third quarter of 2020. At the time of the August 2021 interview, MRR stood at roughly $13,000 to $14,000, consistent with 266 customers at an average of $52 per month.

MessageDesk had 266 paying customers as of August 2021. The company offers two pricing plans: a base plan at $39 per month and a higher tier at $99 per month. Approximately 25 to 30 percent of customers are on the $99 plan, with the majority on the $39 plan. Average revenue per user across the base was $52 per month at the time of the interview.

The company does not have customers in its home city of Reno, Nevada. Its customer base is distributed across other U.S. states and was acquired almost entirely through organic search. Merryman noted that the ARPU was effectively capped in the $50 to $100 range at the time, with a newly launched chatbot product representing the first meaningful upsell opportunity.

MessageDesk operates a subscription SaaS model with monthly plans starting at $39 and a higher tier at $99. The company also earns a margin on message volume: it is charged less than $0.01 per message by its infrastructure provider, Bandwidth, and charges end users $0.03 to $0.04 per message. The platform processed approximately 100,000 messages per month across its 266 customers as of August 2021.

Gross monthly churn was approximately 6 to 7 percent at the time of the interview, down from higher levels in the company's early months when messaging and targeting were less refined. Merryman attributed the improvement to a shift toward operational messaging customers, whose needs are year-round rather than campaign-based. The company's payments automation feature, integrated with QuickBooks Online and Xero, was reported to convert payments 50 to 60 percent faster than email or physical invoices, which Merryman cited as a key retention and acquisition argument.

Profitability was not explicitly confirmed in the interview, though Merryman said the company was confident it would reach cash breakeven in the coming months given its low burn rate. The company's paid headcount of two to three people, combined with unpaid interns and co-founders drawing no salaries, keeps operating costs low relative to its roughly $13,000 to $14,000 in monthly revenue. CAC, LTV, gross margin, and net revenue retention were not discussed.

MessageDesk had seven people on the team as of August 2021, including four co-founders, two to three paid staff members, and a number of college interns working fewer than 20 hours per week without pay. The co-founders were not drawing salaries at the time of the interview. Merryman described the effective burn rate as low given this staffing structure.