ePlanet Ventures announced a Series A investment in PalringoTM, an innovative platform for next generation mobile messaging. Founded in 2006, Palringo (www.palringo.com) has extended the notion of Instant Messaging and made it work on mobile. Palringo's service combines walkie-talkie style voice chat (Vocal Instant Messaging) with the real-time text chat functionality of Instant Messaging and the ability to share pictures within the context of a discussion. The service supports both one-on-one and group discussions and enables real-time dialogue that can incorporate users from across the globe, on any mobile network or connected PC.
Dennis Atkinson, Managing Director of ePlanet Ventures, said, "We believe that there are significant opportunities for innovative companies to revolutionise the mobile communications experience, and we particularly liked the fact that Palringo has not joined the rush to try and offer cheap voice calls, but has instead focused on enabling a richer communications experience. The team has done a fantastic job in building the core platform and we are excited the team's plans for further innovation.
"We are very impressed with Palringo's progress and the initial market response, and believe that the company will grow into a category dominant leader in the mobile vocal instant messaging market, said Asad Jamal, Chairman and CEO of ePlanet Ventures. "Our portfolio in the European region has generated significant value in the past, and we intend to leverage on our geographical and sector expertise to expand our European coverage.
Commenting for Palringo, Martin Rosinski pointed out that although the company has achieved a great deal since receiving initial seed funding in August 2006, the real focus is on delivering further innovation that will transform the mobile communications experience. According to Martin, "Our goal is to transform the mobile communications experience by moving away from intermittent, call-based discussions to a more natural mode of communications that involves continuous dialogue and doesn't necessarily have a start or a finish. Mobile has been about being always connected to the network and Palringo is about being connected to people.
About ePlanet Ventures
ePlanet Ventures (www.eplanetventures.com) is a leading global venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco Bay Area, with international offices in London, New Delhi, Bangalore, Singapore, Shanghai, and Beijing. ePlanet Ventures has funded over 80 innovative high-growth companies world-wide, including landmark deals Baidu (NASDAQ listing August 2005, currently US$12B market cap), Skype (sold to eBay for US$3B in 2005), and Focus Media (NASDAQ listing 2005, currently US$6B cap). ePlanet has created over US$ 20 billion in aggregate shareholder value on its transactions. The firm has won the China Venture Capital Association Exit of the Year 2005 Award, and the Europe Venture Capital Association Deal of the Year 2006 Award, and has been profiled in FORBES Feb 2007 as ˜Pioneer in Global Venture Capital'.
About Palringo
Palringo makes Instant Messaging work on mobile. The service combines walkie-talkie style voice (Vocal Instant Messaging) with the real-time text chat functionality of Instant Messaging and enriches communications further by offering the ability to share pictures within the context of a discussion. The service supports both one-on-one and group discussions, and enables real-time dialogue that can incorporate users from across the globe, on any mobile network or connected PC. The application supports efficient interconnection to other popular Instant Messaging services and enables mobile users to send Vocal and Picture Messages along with the more common text messages.
The company's application is available for free from www.palringo.com.
