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Nimbuzz secures $15 million in second round

Categories: Announcements
By: , IntoMobile
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 12:45 AM

Nimbuzz, the company behind the popular VoIP and IM client, has announced that it has raised $15 million in the second round of funding. Naspers/MIH led the round and Nimbuzz’s other major existing investor, Mangrove Capital Partners, also participated.

NimbuzzAccording to the official release, the new money will be used to further develop Nimbuzz’s product offering into the “most comprehensive and user friendly application for the widest range of handsets, across multiple IM and Social Network communities and in any country.”

Commenting on the announcement, Nimbuzz’s founder and CEO Evert Jaap Lugt said: “We are actively working on strategic distribution deals with leading social networks and mobile operators. It is our aim to blend our technology with existing mobile internet access to upgrade the value chain for business and consumers alike. Operators understand the need for services like Nimbuzz which provide traffic and drive the demand for mobile data plans, an ever more important revenue stream.”

Nimbuzz and now employs 70 people, and already has signed deals with 10 major social networks and 3 operators.

Last year, Nimbuzz raised $10 million in funding, led by Mangrove Capital Partners with investments from Naspers/MIH Group and Holtzbrinck Ventures.

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.