Venture Capital Funding

Sutus raises cash, debt, hires new CEO

Doug Mohney — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:44:10 -0400

Vancouver-based Sutus has secured $2 million in venture funding, plus another $2.5 million in debt financing. It has also added a new CEO.

The $2 million in cash came from BDC Venture Capital, and the $2.5 million in debt financing is being provided by MMV Financial. In addition Sutus is bringing telecommunications veteran Mike Donnell on as CEO; Donnell previously lead New Global Telecom (NGT) as its CEO and has also clocked time as CEO of Zi Corporation and Cellular One.

Founded in 2002, Sutus has over $15.5 million invested into its all-in-one Business Central box targeted at the small office market. The company launched product in late 2007.

Sutus' Business Central was specifically developed for businesses with up to 25 employees and includes a phone system that supports both PSTN and VoIP connections, a file server, email server, router, firewall, wireless access point, VPN remote access server, and automated backups; it can also serve as a gateway for hosted servers and includes extensive remote management and support features for the VAR/resellers that install it. This reporter doesn't know if a kitchen sink option is available.

For more:
- Sutus announces new CEO, funding on MarketWatch. Release.

SPOTLIGHT: NGN joins IMS Forum

Doug Mohney — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:07:07 -0400

Merging isn't just for commercial ventures. The IMS Forum and the NGN forum have merged to form the IMS/NGN Forum.

By combining IMS, SIP, UC and service deliver platforms (SDB), the new organization is said to unite developers, service providers, integrators and solutions providers to further NGN and IMS deployment. The new entity will continue IMS interoperability and IMS Plugfest events with focus on IP billing, OSS, security, reliability, SI, Diameter, UC, SDP and IP video over all types of broadband networks.

More than 2000 executives and technical and marketing professionals will be members of the new entity, which will include equipment vendors, solution providers, integrators, service providers and government agencies. The new entity also announced the formation of a joint Venture Capital study group consisting of its members and more than 20 venture capitalists, private equity groups and financial institutions.

For more:
- IMS Forum release on the IMS/NGN Forum merger

Agito, Nimbuzz Score Second Round Funding

Doug Mohney — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:58:59 -0400

Mobile UC/FMC hardware maker Agito Networks and mobile VoIP software/social network client Nimbuzz both have secured their second rounds of venture funding this week.

Silicon Valley-based Agito received around $13 million, with Castile Ventures leading the round and ITX and original investor Battery Ventures also participating. Agito intends to apply the money to further market expansion in the enterprise fixed mobile convergence (eFMC) arena and for product development. Agito's RoamAnywhere Mobility Router is fine-tuned to use location-aware technologies to switch between cellular and VoIP 802.11-based calls.

Nimbuzz raised $15 million in its second round, with funding lead by Naspers/MIH and first round investor Mangrove Capital Partners also participating. The company will take its funding to continue to develop its application and its proliferation, including "strategic" distribution deals with social networks and mobile operators. Operators are expected to sign on because Nimbuzz drives traffic and demand for mobile data services while the software has to be ported to Windows Mobile, iPhone, and Android; currently, the full software and functionality only works on Symbian Series 60 devices while Java-enabled phones can do a hybrid-VoIP solution for making low-cost international calls.

For more:
- Agito second round funding announcement

Related articles:
Cisco teams with Agito for eFMC solution
Nimbuzz Retreads Familiar Ground

Truphone lands $32.7 million second round

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

VoIP and new mobile operator Truphone has raised $32.7 million in a second round of venture capital funding. Participants included "private investors" plus all of Truephone's existing backers.

Last week, Truphone purchased SIM4travel for around $2.64 million in cash and $2.56 million in stock, allowing the company to get assets including a travel SIM capability and mobile virtual network operator assets which will allow it to offer low-cost GSM calls worldwide via SIM card. The purchase also gives the company additional leverage in settlement discussions with other mobile operators; some have argued since Truphone conducts transport over the Internet by using WiFi instead of cellular infrastructure, there's effectively no cost to terminate calls.

Truphone's first round of $24.5 million in VC funding was closed in December 2006. The company boasts of a global network of SIP gateways, Nokia Siemens Network mobile network HLR and a GSM identifier and is capable of supporting 40 million customers worldwide. According to its corporate website, Truphone has attracted "tends of thousands" of users in 149 countries.

For more:
- Truphone VC Investment announcement
- GigaOm Blog Truphone Comment