Twilio (TWLO -1.59%) has been the beneficiary of digital transformation tailwinds driven by the coronavirus. But it's also helping its customers and state and local governments help combat the pandemic with its powerful software tools. On a Fool Live episode recorded on March 31, Fool contributor Brian Withers explains what this messaging platform is doing to help fight COVID-19 and what investors should watch as the pandemic gets into our rearview mirror.
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Brian Withers: We're talking Twilio, T-W-L-O. Twilio had an interesting announcement recently. The company estimates that their platform will help over 1 billion people receive communications related to COVID vaccine rollout and other COVID-related information over the next 18-24 months. In conjunction with that, it's also stepping up to provide equitable access to vaccines and education to underserved communities with $11 million in grants and product credits. I think that's super cool.
They have these quick-deploy apps that'll allow companies to get scaled up really fast. Texas has set up a testing hotline. It's handled over 30,000 calls that they set up very rapidly. The North Carolina Department of Public Health uses Twilio to message for notification in rural areas, and over two weeks, they've sent out over 400,000 vaccine-related messages. RoboRecruiter leveraged Twilio to automate their sourcing, screening, and hiring over 5,000 vaccinators in London in 24 hours, as well as register and communicate with people. The power of this platform is huge.
While this temporary bump [in demand] may go away, I think people are going to get exposed to this platform and see how really cool it is and the power of what it can do. Earnings, look like the first week in May, they haven't announced the date yet.
Something to watch. You got to remember Twilio's revenue comes primarily from usage-based transactions. Seventy-five percent of their revenue is per message or per communication. As COVID communications decline, watch to see if something else comes in its place to replace that revenue.
