« Web 2.0 And The Mom Reality Check | Main | alarm:clock euro Venture Quiz Question »
August 21, 2006
Mangrove Backs Nimbuzz: Free Mobilephone Instant Messaging Service
Nimbuzz, a Netherlands-based mobile service provider, which launched in Beta today, is offering free instant messaging to mobilephone users. The a:c euro interviewed Evert Japp Lugt, CEO and co-founder.
The company behind the service is Buzzaa Media Group, and its backer is Mangrove Capital Partners, now famous for having backed Skype in its early stage.
Jaap Lugt told us about how he met last year with the Mangrove team to discuss the business concept after developing a prototype with his own capital ( from the sale of a previous venture).
The plan was not to raise VC money, but he decided to do it, he said, after he got the feeling that he was "not the smartest person sitting at the table" . "It's the first time I've seen smart money [in the Benelux region]," he said. 
The amount Nimbuzz raised is not disclosed but Jaap Lugt said it was "significant". The deal went through about 8 months ago.
Nimbuzz enables registered users that have installed its Javaphone client to have free messaging. It's based on the Jabber IM platform and offers open access to MSN Messenger, GTalk, and Nimbuzz contacts. The plan is to make it available for Symbian smartphones soon.
Communications are over IP and users access the Internet via the network operators' gateway. We said the service is free from Nimbuzz but the user will be paying some kind of monthly fee to his service provider. Our operator, for example, includes data traffic up to 2MB per month at no extra charge to our monthly package.
We tried both the messaging and the voice call application and can report that it works. Helpful features, such as tones to indicate incoming messages, and being able to ring up a contact (Buzz feature) to notify that you want to chat, shows that they've thought about how people actually use their phones. Voice quality was as good as Skype.
Nimbuzz plans to offer premium service to its users, including Nimbuzz to mobilephone and fixed line voice calls, conference calls, voice messaging, and related services.
This is not Jaap Lugt's first venture. He also founded @media, which developed a Palm Pilot data comms application for the pharma market, which he sold to NOB Mobile in 2000. After leaving NOB Mobile he's also been an active angel investor. One of the conditions of Mangrove's investment was that he agree to lead the company, which employs 10 in Amsterdam.
Posted on August 21, 2006 06:08 PM | Posted to News And Updates | Wireless | Permalink
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thealarmclock.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1872
