Mobile Communication Startup fring Bags More Funding
Summary
Fring, the Israel-based mobile call and chat application provider, has closed a Series C round of financing on top of the $13 million it has raised since its inception in 2006. The startup says it intends to use the extra funding to make the app compatible with more mobile environments (Android, anyone? ), support more Web-based community services, introduce a couple of new features and make some usability improvements across the board. When the economy started crumbling last Fall, fring let go 20% of its workforce, although at the time it stated revenues were actually on the upside but it needed to cut costs to extend its runway through 2009. The company is up against a slew of well-funded startup rivals, including Nimbuzz, Truphone and eBuddy, but also increasingly against Skype, which is eyeing the mobile handset market more and more.