Jangl

Founded: March 2005

Status: Effectively dead in May 2008. Live Universe picked over the bones

Contributing factors: Investors wanted to sell, not grow.

What did it do: Web client/multi-widget mobile UC functionality/hide-the-phone-number

Website: www.jangl.com 

A lot of Silicon Valley start-ups (class of 2005) dove into the mashup/Voice 2.0/mobile UC/mobile phone ad-placement/we-have-some-sort-of-business-model flailing and ended up adding "...and you can make low cost phone calls through us too..." to their pitch. 

Whatever the business model, it wasn't generating enough cash to keep the doors open. In the fall of 2007, Jangl's backers wanted to sell the company rather than raise another venture round. But it's hard to sell a company when everyone knows you're on the block and want to be sold. WhitePages.com reportedly came close to buying Jangl for around $20 million, but the terms changed at the last minute. 

Sealing Jangl's fate was the early May departure of the company's two founders and a good chunk of the development to Jajah. (So much for employment contracts and golden handcuffs). Live Universe picked up the pieces. A "new" Jangl is promised on the website.