Layer

Layer is a customer conversation platform, enabling companies and their customers to have immediate, interactive and personalized experiences from any digital interface We believe that great products are all about building a great experience, not reinventing the infrastructure. Our developer friendly messaging toolkit – UI kits, SDKs, and APIs let developers focus on building great experiences. We obsess about great engineering and design, across mobile and the web. We care deeply about making our code, APIs, and documentation functional, useful and beautiful.



about the company

Founders

Tomaz Stolfa

Tomaz is the CEO & co-founder of Layer. He's passionate about blending web, mobile and telephony into innovative products; while hiding the complexities behind simple interfaces.Before Layer, Tomaz was founder of vox.io. Previously, Tomaz was the main creative at MarandLab, a division of Marand, based in Ljubljana, where he used to contribute in form of ideas and product innovation. His work at Marand has been rewarded in Slovenia and abroad.Tomaz is also the founding organizer of MobileMonday Slovenia, a monthly series of mobile related events.

Ron Palmeri

Ron Palmeri As an early stage product and markets guy, Ron launched a number of highly innovative companies, including Grand Central/Google Voice, OpenDNS, Scout Labs and Swivel as managing director of Minor Ventures. As founder of MkII Ventures, Ron cofounded Prism Skylabs which is working to brings physical spaces online, creating new places for people and businesses to understand and engage each other.

Layer in the press

April 18, 2017

Top startup competitions: their most successful alumni

Startup competitions have been an exceptional way to find successful startups that go on to generate billions in revenue and thousands of jobs. In fact, Vator was among the first to create a SaaS platform to host startup competitions. Since our community of entrepreneurs and investors look to Vator for startup information, we've launched a weekly guide to the best startup competitions around the world. [http://vator.tv/x] -- a repository of hundreds of startup competitions and challenges around the world. As part of our weekly series, we'll look at top competitions with big cash prizes, as well as competitions that have teed up the most promising startups, to finding popular startup competitions you need to know about.

March 7, 2017

SDVentures Portfolio Company Layer Raises $15 million in Funding and Acquires Interactive Messaging Startup Cola

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150514/744216 )Layer is an award-winning communications platform that helps business engage customers from acquisition to service and support. And with the addition of Cola, Layer is extending its messaging platform with interactive, stateful messages that live inside conversations. Layer's Series B round of funding received participation from SDVentures along with other prominent investors such as Greycroft Partners, Microsoft Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures. SDVentures is an international group of companies investing in online social discovery projects around the globe. Contact: Alisa Veselova, +79853454252, [email protected] Social Discovery Ventures (SDVentures)

Feb. 28, 2017

Khronos announces OpenXR initiative for virtual reality

Khronos, the group behind the OpenGL and Vulkan graphics APIs, has unveiled a name for its fledgling open standard virtual reality initiative at GDC 2017. Known as OpenXR, the working group is comprised of a selection of industry leaders, which are working on a royalty-free graphics standard for augmented and virtual reality applications and devices. The OpenXR standard will be split into two parts; an Application Interface and the Device Layer. Given that this is an early stage announcement, Khronos hasn’t given an exact release date for when OpenXR will go live. Although the group suggests that OpenXR could see support in its first virtual reality device sometime before 2018.

Feb. 24, 2017

Layer raises $15 million, confirms acquisition of Cola’s messaging platform

Layer has secured additional funding to further develop its messaging platform that lets brands and developers create a Facebook Messenger-like experience inside their own apps. The latest infusion of capital will be used to help Layer develop what it calls customized interactive “stateful” messages, and the company’s evolution will draw on the assets it acquired from messaging platform Cola, a deal Layer has now confirmed. What to do with ColaAs far as Cola goes, the service is no stranger to Layer — in fact, it’s built on Layer’s messaging platform. “There’s a ton of synergy between the missions of Layer and Cola,” said Cola CEO David Temkin. “Now, developers using Layer will have a framework to make these events interactive and collaborative.”Launched in 2013, Layer functions as a platform to let developers implement messaging capabilities into their apps.

Feb. 15, 2017

Layer to acquire assets of Cola’s messaging app service for $75,000

Cola’s messaging operating system offered “bubbles” that were supposed to streamline conversations and eliminate needless text-a-thons. Image Credit: Cola“Cola was always envisioned as more than ‘just another messaging app’,” company chief executive David Temkin said in July. Layer is buying Cola’s technology, but not the team, although the company is bringing on board two of Cola’s engineers, likely to continue running the product and integrating it into the communication infrastructure. Layer is a communication infrastructure service similar to Twilio, but focused on chat messaging. The addition of Cola’s technology may benefit Layer’s customers, introducing new ways for users to communicate within a text message.

Feb. 2, 2017

Centric SMB Chosen by Marine Layer

Marine Layer Has Soft Spot for Centric SMB We are expecting to see time savings of about 10-15 percent per user, just by getting our information on a centralized, shared software system. Centric Software announces that Marine Layer, the San Francisco-based premium casual apparel brand specialized in soft clothing, celebrates a successful go live of their Centric Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) project. Founded by Mike Natenshon and his best friend Adam Lynch in San Francisco in 2009, Marine Layer makes clothing to suit a 'seven-day weekend' lifestyle. “The biggest challenge we were facing was keeping track of shared information,” says Megan Eddings, Director of Design & Product Development at Marine Layer. Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software.

Jan. 20, 2017

Billionaire Needs a New SDN Network in Quest to Cure Cancer

One of his companies, PacketFabric, deployed the new Layer 2 connectivity platform, which uses custom-built software-defined networking (SDN) technology. The network will be used by PacketFabric’s parent company NantWorks, which is involved in medical research. They set out to create a large-scale network using SDN technology. PacketFabric is all about SDN and telecommunications.”PacketFabric’s SDNThe greenfield network facilitates coast-to-coast connectivity between 86 carrier-neutral colocation facilities across the 11 markets. “In monitoring the network you want to collect massive amounts of data regarding the status of the network state,” he says.

Sept. 27, 2016

CATS the Musical coming to Dubai Opera

AndrewLloyd Webber’s record-breaking 2015 Olivier award nominated musical CATS is comingto Dubai Opera for ten days next year. One of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history will have a limited run of January 16 to 252017. “We love the fact that this spectacular musical will play at Dubai Opera and is suitable for the entire family to enjoy.”Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, the classic musical tells the story of the Jellicle cats and each cat’s individual quest to be selected as the lucky one who will ascend to “the Heaviside Layer”. The fantasy drama has one of the most popular musical scores in history, and has been seen by more than 73 million people worldwide. Dubai Opera will also play host to another popular musical in February 2017, when it welcomes the finger-snapping of the gangs from West Side Story.

Sept. 19, 2016

Marketers: Here are a dozen authoring tools to help you get chatty with chatbots

To help you build and maintain chatbots, we’re highlighting a dozen of the most prominent tools, many of which have just emerged in the last few months. ChatfuelFor: Facebook Messenger, TelegramThis basic tool, which also does not require programming, is one of the most popular. It offers a free level, can be integrated with outside services, and is focused on Facebook Messenger, although it also supports Telegram. ChatsuiteFor: Facebook Messenger, Kik. It offers industry-specific bots for banking and, soon, retail, and it provides over 130 bots in its store.

Sept. 9, 2016

Why APIs Are Worth The Time And Attention Of IT Professionals

In this webcast, experts discuss the real losses associated with a breach, both in the data centerWhy APIs Are Worth The Time And Attention Of IT ProfessionalsIT professionals who have yet to be convinced that API management could be useful need look no further than Google's plan to acquire Apigee, an API management platform. APIs allow enterprises to connect their software and services to offerings from third parties, partners, and customers. PwC recommended enterprises look for API management platforms to bring some order to the complexity involved in dealing with the growing number of APIs. API management platforms give organizations control over how their APIs are delivered, managed, and analyzed. IT professionals who have yet to be convinced that API management could be useful need look no further than Google's plan to acquire Apigee, an API management platform, for evidence that APIs can benefit from attention.

Feb. 16, 2016

Layer muses on messaging's future -- and why some brands should skip Facebook

Now, with the communication platform Layer, things have gotten much easier for many — in fact, the company reports that it’s now integrated into nearly 500 live applications. Some companies already using Layer include GoButler, Hinge, Udacity, Forbes, and Trunk Club. If there’s anything that Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Operator have shown, it’s that we’re in an era of conversational commerce. Facebook is taking this approach with its Messenger platform and has brought on board retail companies like Everlane and Zulily. “The way we’re evolving the product is around things for the core messaging product that would add value on experience.

Jan. 22, 2016

Global Investments on C-RAN Architecture Networks - Expected to Reach Over $7 Billion by the End of 2016 - Research and Markets

The report estimates that global investments on C-RAN architecture networks will reach over $7 Billion by the end of 2016. Although Japan and South Korea continue to spearhead commercial C-RAN investments, interest is also growing in other parts of the world. The ongoing 5G race is expected to significantly boost C-RAN investments over the coming years. The author estimates that over $1 Billion of all C-RAN architecture network investments will be directed towards 5G networks by the end of 2020. However, by the end of 2020, we expect that virtualized BBUs will account for over 6% of all C-RAN BBU investments.

Dec. 30, 2015

Data Center Technology Startups to Watch in 2016

As more and more media content gets consumed online, and as businesses rely more and more on cloud services, the need for data center capacity in places that aren’t known as major data center markets, is growing quickly. Vapor’s primary target is the quickly growing edge data center market. We specifically chose to narrow it down to companies we feel are addressing some of the biggest pain points in data center design and management. The startup also has developed a commercial server and rack management software product called Vapor Core and open sourced a portion of it as OpenDCRE, or Open Data Center Runtime Environment. Vapor IOFew companies have attempted to challenge the way people think about data center design as radically as Austin-based Vapor IO, which came out of stealth in March, has.

Oct. 29, 2015

Brocade CEO says they built an easy button for IP networks, are benefiting from SDN/NFV

Why don’t you create a separate IP storage network?”So it’s an IP network only for storage. We basically put an easy button on the IP network and that has been going really well. We’re seeing more and more people move towards IP storage as a complement to what they have. There’s that and then there’s just raw IP storage. IP storage is a great opportunity for us.

Oct. 28, 2015

9to5Toys Lunch Break: Samsung Galaxy S6 (unlocked) $430, Nexus 6 (unlocked) $290, more

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Oct. 27, 2015

9to5Toys Last Call: 256GB Retina MacBook Pro $1,280, A Dark Room iOS game free, GoPro HERO4 Black $360, more

Trending in OpinionOpinion: Why an iPhone master key is better than a backdoor, but still too dangerous

Oct. 27, 2015

9to5Toys Lunch Break: Acer Chromebook $120, GoPro HERO4 Black $360, Spigen Nexus 6 case $5, more

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Oct. 22, 2015

Brocade CEO says they've built an easy button for IP networks, are benefiting from SDN/NFV

We basically put an easy button on the IP network and that has been going really well. The traditional SAN product is moving well. It’s probably the single biggest reason why a customer who didn’t think about Brocade before thinks Brocade now. If you asked someone three years ago about Brocade in the IP business, they wouldn’t even be sure we were in that market. I think it’s caused a lot of customers to rethink their architectures, because they know they want to get to SDN/NFV.

June 17, 2015

AT&T looking at white boxes as CPE

Indeed, AT&T is looking at ON.Lab’s ONOS SDN controller, which AT&T helped define, for that specific function, Fuetsch says. AT&T is also looking at extending SDN and NFV “down the stack” into Layer 1 functions such as optical transport and access. “So at the CPE, these boxes are extremely flexible, very scalable, they have great economics, and we believe customers are going to want them,” Fuetsch said. Many operators like AT&T are deploying bare metal/white box switches to make their service and operations networks more flexible and scalable. The switches will run a uniform operating system and protocol stack, ostensibly defined and/or developed by AT&T, that will also run in the AT&T cloud for scale and operational simplicity, Fuetsch said.

April 29, 2015

Alfred, Layer And Trello Are Returning To The Startup Battlefield Stage

At this year’s Disrupt NY, previous finalists and winners of Startup Battlefield will once again take the stage. Last year Alfred won Startup Battlefield at Disrupt SF. During Disrupt NY next week, 25 startups will take the stage in a bid to win $50,000 and the Startup Battlefield Cup. Trello was a finalist at Disrupt SF 2011 and raised a $10.3 million Series A in the summer of 2014. This year’s Startup Battlefield class is as strong as ever.

April 23, 2015

Disrupt NY Hackathon — All The Prizes Plus Hardware!

“Actively transact” means conducting a sales transaction that results in Simplify Commerce making a deposit to the checking account you have linked to your Simplify Commerce merchant account. *To qualify for this prize, you must apply to become and be approved as a Simplify Commerce merchant by June 30, 2015, and actively transact via the Simplify Commerce gateway. Believe it or not, we’re just a week away from the start of the TechCrunch Disrupt NY Hackathon! If you qualify, Simplify Commerce will rebate the 2.85% + 30¢ per transaction processing fee for your first $50,000 in sales through December 31, 2015. Hackaday is keeping its hardware events page up-to-date as they add equipment to the hackathon parts bin.

March 24, 2015

Facebook Messenger as a Platform? It's a Gamble

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees virtual reality as a future platform of its own, capable of providing digital experiences in people's daily lives. In other words, making Messenger a platform would be a gamble. And for the same reasons Facebook might turn Messenger into a platform, it could do the same for other apps like WhatsApp or Instagram, he said. The more Facebook broadens its platform for developers, the more that network and its value grow. Even if Facebook doesn't turn Messenger into a platform at F8, it will likely do so in the future, said John Jackson, an IDC analyst focused on mobile business strategies.

Feb. 25, 2015

Layer rolls out turnkey messaging platform and Atlas UI tools for app developers

One startup, called Layer, has built the infrastructure and front-end user interface tools developers need to do just that. The Pop and Imoji apps are examples of live apps using messaging from Layer. With the numbers of people using messaging apps already huge and still growing, many developers are looking for easy ways to build the functionality into their own apps. Atlas provides a set of open-source tools that allows developers to add messaging “as well-designed as iMessage” to any iOS or Android app, the company says. San Francisco-based Layer offers the infrastructure as a hosted service, and the service went into general availability today.

Feb. 25, 2015

Layer, Which Lets Developers Add Messaging To Any App, Launches To Public

Layer supports the ability to send text, voice, photo and video messages, and can be used in either standalone messaging apps, or in apps where messaging is only one of many features, and not the app’s main purpose. Atlas is live today on a dedicated website here, and Layer is also now open to any interested developers. The code for Atlas is open source, and is fully integrated with Layer, making it easier to kickstart the process of integrating messaging into an app. They can change the fonts or colors, or they can simply use Atlas as the basis for building a highly differentiated messaging service of their own. Today, there are just around 1,500 active developers using Layer on a monthly basis.

May 14, 2014

Rebtel Spins Out Sinch, With $12M In Funding, To Offer Communications Tools To Developers

Developers using Sinch can implement free calling, messaging, group messaging, SMS and call termination all within their own app. Rebtel, Sweden’s smaller answer to Skype, has just infused $12 million into a new spun out company called Sinch, aimed at making communications tools accessible to mobile developers for any app. According to Sinch CEO Andreas Bernström, developers only spend a few minutes getting started with Sinch and then they’re ready to roll. For app to app calling and instant messaging, pricing is based on the number of active users and the number of minutes or messages used. For app to phone calling and SMS, the price is based on a per-minute or per-SMS cost.

Oct. 7, 2013

What to expect before accepting the offer to become Engineer #1 at a startup — RRE Ventures

In exchange, the engineer is likely offered the promise that his or her option shares will one day turn into big money. This thread on Hacker News is excellent at illustrating all of the considerations upon accepting an offer. In cases where a startup is sold within a few years time, there is often acceleration agreements for unvested shares. “Engineer #1″ is frequently granted ownership significantly less than that of the founders. Often difficult to get, the first engineer sets the tone for the rest of the development team.

Sept. 11, 2013

Layer wins the startup battlefield at Disrupt

SAN FRANCISCO — The winner of the TechCrunch Disrupt startup battlefield is Layer. Layer has raised $1.5 million from MkII Ventures, SV Angel, Pacific Partners, Data Collective, Promus Ventures, Anthem Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, CrunchFund, and others. “We offer the only wireless power tech that can offer 1 watt of power and span an entire household, powering multiple devices,” Zeine said. Layer is an “open communications layer for the Internet.” The technology makes it easier to build messaging, voice, and video into applications in minutes. Dryft has raised $500,000 and is based in Menlo Park, Calif.SoilIQSoilIQ wants to change the way the world grows food.

Jan. 16, 2013

Aruba Networks Introduces First Wireless LAN Platform

The Aruba 7200 Series with new Aruba AppRF technology is the only wireless LAN platform with the integrated application intelligence and controls to optimize application delivery. Bangalore: Aruba Networks announced a new wireless LAN platform that addresses the explosion of mobile applications and devices challenging enterprise networks, while dramatically reducing enterprise IT costs. “Aruba is helping these customers address their requirements with a wireless LAN platform that not only delivers improved ‘speeds and feeds’ but offers true insight into and control of application performance. Using a simple dashboard in the controller interface and in Aruba Airwave management software, Aruba AppRF gives IT unprecedented insight into individual user traffic streams for troubleshooting, long term planning and real time prioritization. To accomplish this, Aruba AppRF software, which runs on the 7200 mobility controller, uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) for Layer 7 insight to identify application traffic.

July 24, 2012

VMware Doubles Down On Heterogeneity With Nicira Acquisition, Steers Course To The Software Defined Datacenter

And now with Nicira, VMware owns a software defined networking (SDN) solution that was designed for heterogeneous hypervisor and cloud environments. In other words, you can create a software-defined datacenter (or part of a datacenter) with VMware if you’re all-in on vSphere virtual machines. If you want to extend workloads to a public cloud, you’ll need to find one that offers VMware platforms and tools. DynamicOps already manages non-VMware hypervisors as well as workloads running on open virtualization platforms in multiple clouds. Following on the heels of a very busy couple of weeks, VMware announced its acquisition of Nicira yesterday.