Investors are bullish about text messaging.

Solutions by Text (SBT), a platform for compliance-first messaging and payments, on Wednesday announced the raising of $110 million in new growth financing.

According to a news release, growth equity investment firm Edison Partners co-led the transaction with StepStone Group, a global private markets investment firm. Stifel Venture Bank, a division of Stifel Bank, provided a lending facility.

Since Edison Partners’ initial investment in November 2021, executives said both SBT’s bookings and revenue have grown more than three times through compliant messaging and payment solutions built for consumer finance businesses across origination, servicing, marketing and accounts receivable use cases.

In 2023, SBT said its messaging volume increased 95% year-over year. This year, SBT said it is on pace to more than double messaging volume growth.

“We are so pleased that Edison Partners and StepStone share our conviction about the vast potential for an enterprise-scale compliance platform to orchestrate text messaging and payments in consumer finance,” Solutions by Text CEO David Baxter said in the news release. “Consumers want an alternative to endless emails, confusing web portals, and lengthy rounds with call centers when engaging their financial providers.

“While texting is ubiquitous with consumers, it has not matched up with the rigorous business requirements of finance regulators and carrier networks. We have bridged this divide to drive massive returns for our financial customers and put us on an accelerated upward growth trajectory,” Baxter continued.

SBT believes text messaging proves to be one of the most effective ways to reach consumers, claiming 90% of consumers prefer text over other forms of communication, with the majority of text messages received and read in under five minutes.

Despite this, and in the face of increasing regulatory complexity and carrier policies, 60% of SBT’s new customers were not using text messaging for fear of violations over the last 12 months.

SBT’s compliant-forward platform also is enabling its customers to tap into new opportunities such as payments, where the dynamics are ripe for messaging.

With this investment, SBT will continue accelerating growth with large financial institutions, expand its payments and artificial intelligence capabilities, and seek inorganic opportunities.

“When Edison first invested in SBT two and a half years ago, we saw a founder-led, capital-efficient business with a competitive moat that went deep on regulatory and carrier compliance and wide on financial industry solutions and third-party technology integrations,” Edison Partners general partner Kelly Ford said.

“Since then, David and his team have consistently overperformed and further cemented unparalleled trust among regulators, carriers and leading financial institutions. It’s been an incredible partnership that we’re thrilled to continue through this next phase of profitable growth,” Ford went on to say.